A Bad Round

Some days and weeks school can feel like a boxing match. When you’re “on” you feel unstoppable. You might take a punch or two but they slide off barley causing you to flinch. When you’re less than perfect (even for a second) every jab hurts.

Today my offense was excellent. My punches were landing with near perfect accuracy. The kids were picking up even the difficult concepts. Responses to discussion questions were thoughtful and intelligent, students worked when asked to work, classes were zooming by.

Unfortunately all this offense left me exposed.

The first shot came from a young lady who has been “inconsistent” with her attendance of late. She told me she will be withdrawing tomorrow to the district alternative school. Her chances of getting out of school with a diploma or GED (while better than if she dropped out) have been drastically reduced. After doing a little counseling and encouraging I shook this jab off.

The next punch came at lunch when yet another fight broke out in the lunchroom…again two girls. This was little more than a deceptive tap and I moved through it.

Returning to my room from the office I caught a powerful combination. A female student (who was in my class in middle school) came in with her boyfriend, three month old daughter and a withdrawal (dropout) slip. She completed the combination with talk about her desire to have another child within the next two years, she is 16. This one hurt, I was dazed and reeling. I fell back, tried to regroup and managed to get through the next class on pure offense.

Then came the class from hell. Normally they are a “challenge” but today they were a relentless barrage of body blows as I supported a battered psyche against the ropes.

The round was over and I groped for my corner. I stumbled out of school early trying to remember the great classes, the discussion the flawless activities, but my head was cloudy and positive reflection was not happening.

This round went to everything negative in teaching, but I have a good corner (wife) and I’ll be back tomorrow with a more balanced strategy and the savior that is Friday.