Thursday, September 11, 2008

Lex, the kid that makes my life hell

I have a new student, Lex, who in my eyes, lives to make my life hell. He is a student I have no answers for in my bag of tricks. He got me. He gets deep under my skin. To make matters worse, he somehow convinced the rest of the class (which for the first week and a half of school has been a dream class to teach) to join the fire. On his very first day he tried to punk me in the classroom. He stole my cell phone. He talked about my mother. Dropped my personal laptop on the floor. And whatever I would say, he would respond, "blah, blah, blah." Then this fool had the nerve to spit in my face when he got sent to the Dean's office.

About ten minutes ago, I woke up and realized I was dreaming, or rather, 'nightmaring'. I'm going to go into work today thankful that I don't have Lex to make my life hell, but I feel for all of the teachers that have a 'Lex' because I know he exists.

10 comments:

kneel said...

Hey, welcome back. I've been gone awhile as well. Got to write to keep sane, even if no one seems to be listening.

Hugh O'Donnell said...

LOL, that's the kid I'd dropkick through the goal posts of life.

Of course, imagining that little scenario makes you appreciate the minor miseries you have to endure for the greater purpose. ;)

Vanessa B said...

Hey.. my name is Vanessa and I have just applied to become a NYC teaching fellow. I googled teaching fellows and somehow through a chain of blogs happened upon yours. I just want to say, even though it was a long time ago I just want to say I'm so sorry for the ignorance that has plagued your blog before. Even though it may be a pain to do, I am very thankful for your blog and a few choice others like it that have really given me an inside look at jumping into the deep end known as teaching in these inner city schools. I am praying and hoping every day that I make it for the June 2009 program. Hopefully some day you can be reading my own blog about it! Sorry for the huge comment I just wanted to say thank you for stayin strong and letting people like me (who care) know what it's really like!

Love, Peace and all that Jazz,
Vanessa :0)

Anonymous said...

Amazing that as teachers we have to "breathe in, breathe out" and write to keep sane. I too am a Teaching Fellow and have never had a job where I was treated with such disdain by my administrators in my life. Our job is an important one, and we get treated like garbage. Everything that we do has to be posted for "show" when someone comes to visit, and we are even encouraged to do our children's work and have them copy it so that it looks like they are doing well.
I dreamed of being a teacher since I was 7, I wanted to teach, encourage and inspire. I am now beaten down every day, insulted by my so-called 'superiors' and hounded so that they can try to find some fault they can write up (they have found none in the 7 years I've been in this organization).
The DOE has succeeded in killing a dream. Congratulations. The most important job, educating our children so that they can run the country in the future, and we are treated like (and paid less than) the janitors. I thought we were an organization of professionals, but the administrators treat us like idiots.
I look forward to leaving and finding a job where I am treated like the intelligent professional I am.

Rebecca said...

Please update your blog! It's so helpful to me.

Jaime Randle said...

Just stumbked on your blog and I am thinking about applying to be a NYCTF! I would love to chat with you about your application process/experience!

Miss A said...

I hope your year is going well, and I hope your "Lex" hasn't become a reality.

And, with that, you've been tagged: http://lamaestranueva.blogspot.com/2008/12/someones-reading.html

Hugh O'Donnell said...

Hey, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, my friend!

Alex at BB said...

I wanted to invite you to a DonorsChoose event with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday. It is very late notice but if your interested please email me as early as you can on Monday. alex@banyanbranch.com

Sassacyprigo said...

Oh my God... I felt so sorry for you and Lex. I sent a link to your blog to my young cousin (33). He's thinking about becoming a special ed teacher himself. Good for you by the way. I can't wait to get back to your blog!!