Today started on a completely sour note. While waiting for the subway, a woman was loudly berating her child with very harsh language. I was playing a phone game, and looked over a few times as the woman raised her voice. It seemed unusually loud for me, but no one else was batting an eye. The language not appropriate for adults to use to each other, let alone to say to a child who was only running around, not even doing anything terrible. The barrage of language continued until the subway arrived.
On the subway, the woman was squatting in front of a bench. This was pretty weird. The child climbed on top of the bench behind his mother and started to playfully rest his feet on the mother in front of him as if he was lounging in a chair. He wasn’t kicking or doing anything that looked to be anything more than playing for attention, since the woman had started to talk to a man across the subway car. All of a sudden, the woman turns around and punches the child repeatedly in the face and chest.
The entire subway car looks over as the woman is cursing and punching her kid. This wasn’t an open handed “swat”, but full on, fist raised PUNCHING. HOLY SHIT. I didn’t have my camera available at the time to record the abuse, and everyone in the car was watching this woman. No one said anything to her, but a few people were disturbed enough to get up from their seat to stop the woman if she had continued. I got off at the next stop immediately after the abuse, but I was really worried. The boy got up immediately and was running up and down the car laughing. I guess he didn’t think anything was unusual about such proceedings. WTF.
Once I got to work, I had a series of classes, one worse than the next. In my second class, I had students sick, students with no homework, students just being annoying. Then between classes I had students grabbing me and being annoying on purpose (They said, “Hey, let’s bother him!”). I was pretty grumpy by this point.
My third class is full of three bad boys and some kind, but quiet girls. One boy I put “in charge” of the class, and told him if something bad happens he will ALWAYS be held responsible for everyone elses actions if he knows about misbehavior and doesn’t put a stop to it. He is the oldest in the class, and should be more mature.
The eraser in the class had “disappeared” for the second time in two weeks. Last time, the student I knew was responsible cracked under pressure and immediately handed it over. This time, the ENTIRE class was in on the gag. After I had filled up the board, I told them I couldn’t help them on their homework because I had no more room to write anything. Only then, finally, did one student tell me where the eraser was.
After this class was over, I told my director that all the students were in on the joke. She pulled the three bad boys out of class and totally tore into them. They didn’t go home at their normal time, and needed to stay after to write their journals that were overdue under supervision. During the break I tried to blow off the stress and come into class fresh. It didn’t work.
The next class was worse. They have the lamest excuses for never doing their homework. One student said my directions were “unclear” so she didn’t do her work from a week ago. Her friend, who is usually my best student, tried to back her up and agree. Nevermind that they had 2 more classes with me after I assigned the work to explain it, or their mother could have called the secretary. They had left the class claiming to understand.
She was just trying to use an excuse to get out of doing her work. Three other students didn’t do their work either. Only one student in the class had completed it to my satisfaction, and another I left off since he had tried a little. The rest I was furious at. Some students go weeks without doing their work, and don’t keep notes of their homework, or participate in the rewards program at school. They hadn’t done their journals either.
I told the director that this class had been particularly bad. I told about all the lame excuses, and the students that didn’t get their work done had to stay after class AGAIN for an extra hour. By the time I had left school today, ten of my students were being kept after class for one punishment or another.
I made it home without incident, but I’m pretty worked up about today. I really didn’t enjoy much of anything that happened at any point today. At least my director is awesome and has my back when it comes to bad students from time to time.
