Class Report: Dec 14, 2009

There is an old teacher adage that goes something like this: Beware of the week before a holiday and full moons. Actually, I just made that up - but it should be a timeless saying, passed down from a time before anyone can remember. For some odd and mystical reason students loose any semblance of sanity during the week before a major holiday. Maybe it is the excitement that the following week of freedom will provide - perhaps it is because they sense the teachers slackness because most educators are already in vacation mode. Who knows? There are four days left till the big two week winter break and the kids are living up to the old adage. Right before holidays is not the only time kids act like lunatics - student behavior is closer to pack animals or cave dwellers when the moon if full. I usually take off the full moon before summer break, just to play it safe.
Today, Nikki hit Ricky in the face with an open hand. It was a very good sounding slap that had a nice pop to it. This happened after she was timed-out and called everyone in the class every malicious word in the book. I lost track of how many F-Bombs she set off, but it probably set some sort of swearing record. The mental health counselor came into my classroom for something unrelated and saw how Nikki was behaving - she got her calmed down enough to walk out to the bus. Although Nikki got on the bus, she could not keep from cursing out everyone who was on it. The principal was out there and told Nikki to either sit down or she would have a police officer take her home. Nikki responded that she did not care about "no F'in police". She was kicked off the bus - once again ending up in my care. I stuck her in time-out until her mother came to get her. A normal parent would have been horrified by the evil deeds that Nikki had committed. Nikki's mother simply scooped her up and acted as if it was a huge inconvenience that she had to drive to the school to pick her up. It must have been difficult to come to the school during the only hour break she gets from her 23 hour extreme loafing block.