Thank GOD for the Kotzebue Dentist...

My OLD high school civics teacher, Mr. Fermoyle, wrote a book. He signed that sucker when my grandparents brought it to him before they gifted it to me. "In the Trenches - a Teacher's Defense of Public Education" was a well written, first hand account of what it's really like to be a teacher. The basic premise behind Mr. Fermoyle's book is that public schools all over the country are doing the best that they can given the political and social constraints forced on them by an overprotective government. The rules prohibit public education from being a beautiful thing but in spite of that, students can and still do receive a world class education - IF they do their part.

I have used excerpts from his book at parent/teacher conferences. I have loaned the book out to several of my colleagues. I refer to it often.

Last year, my wife was back "in the trenches" for a second go'round in Education. Michele was the High School Phy Ed./Health teacher in the same Small Town, Minnesota school district that I taught in. I think she did a wonderful job. I watched her pour more time and effort in to making her classes engaging and fun for her students than is reasonably acceptable. Michele is a bit of a perfectionist and  likes to do every job well. Unfortunately, last year Michele had that ONE KID that Mr. Fermoyle warned us about in his book.

There's that ONE KID that can totally change the make-up of your classroom. He/she can be rude, lethargic, disrespectful, oppositional, dirty, mean and nasty and somehow because he/she has an audience that finds it mildly entertaining - the whole class suffers. Fermoyle proselytized that IF teachers were allowed to removes said students from their classroom - the learning would increase exponentially. "Easton Roth" (Names have been changed to protect the guilty) was that dirty, mean and nasty young man last year for Michele. His cronies were completely different kids when Easton was around to impress. Easton's only goals in life were to make a mockery of school. When he was away from school, whether illness or incarceration, my wife actually reported successful lessons and even mentioned that she enjoyed her job.

I have a similar student this year., "Sammie" (Once again - Names have been changed to protect the guilty). This young lady has fallen so far behind her class academically that extensive remediation and interventions seem hopeless. She struggles in all subjects and because of that is bored at school. So to counteract this negative feel she has towards school, she acts out in such outlandish ways that any semblance of classroom etiquette is gone out the window.

She makes audible trilling noises when her classmates are reading.
She wanders about the room, engaging some in conversation others with eye contact - always with poor intentions.
She often sleeps in class...not the fifteen minute catnap variety but the 2-3 hour long comatose variety.
She self medicates with sugary drinks and candy. I have difficulty regulating it because her mother is a building employee and feeds it to her like a necessary lifeline.
She cries.
She screams.
She is a 9 year old child begging for help.

Yesterday was a rough day...Sammie wasn't the only one acting out.
LaShawn - flipped his desk - on two separate occasions.
Joseph - also flipped his desk but he wound up and tossed that bad boy with some serious force and angst.
Both young men retired to the hallway and back entry with bellowing and slamming of walls and doors.
Another classmate - Kenneth - threw a similar tantrum but he retreated to the floor at the back of the room, threw around some books and cried loud enough to be annoying.

And this whole circus hinged on Sammie...

Yesterday afternoon was rough.

But there is a GOD and he's never going to give you more than you can handle. Today Sammie was on the morning flight out of the village and in to Kotzebue for a Dental Exam.

Addition by Subtraction.
We are only as strong as our weakest link...

And the class managed wonderfully today... Reflexive Pronouns, Poetry about Dance, Mid Chapter Multiplication and Division Quiz, caught up on Science and Social Studies packets... there was barely even a hiccup today...all because of that ONE variable...

If schools had the resources they deserve and children could receive the help that they need...IF - IF - IF....imagine the possibilities for those that actually come to school to learn. Just Imagine.