Today as my staff assistant spoke to the students about a fishing trip he took with a buddy and his wife. He bragged about how his buddy made some delicious ribs. One of the boys said, "You went fishing and didn't eat the fish?
"No, I don't ever eat fish."
"You catch and release then!? That's just weird. Why would you do that?"
Then a girl calls out, " You just hurt them and throw them back? That's like punching someone in the face and then walking away."

     The assignment today was to write about a perfect day-their perfect day-one gal was so tired from being out all night that she could barely stay awake much less write. Another was unable to concentrate because of an impending fight that he won't talk about. The rest varied from the first time he tasted Pepsi, to a birthday dinner unattended by his father, to a wonderful weekend with her grandfather where the sun filtered beautifully through the clouds.
     I had a few heart to hearts as well, one about poking another child with a needle intended for an art project, another about turning the teacher's comments into sexually explicit jokes, and one about the fact that forging a teacher's signature on his behavior tracker had earned him a detention. He, the forger, took the news like a big boy-no arguing or lying-that was a first! 

I copied this from facebook-its important!

ATTENTION ALL TEACHERS AND PARENTS

This is an article that needs to be repeated:
Every Friday afternoon Chase’s teacher asks her students to take out a piece of paper and write down the names of four children with whom they’d like to sit the following week. The children know that these requests may or may not be honored. She also asks the students to nominate one student whom they believe has been an exceptional classroom citizen that week. All ballots are privately submitted to her.

And every single Friday afternoon, after the students go home, Chase’s teacher takes out those slips of paper, places them in front of her and studies them. She looks for patterns.

Who is not getting requested by anyone else?
Who doesn’t even know who to request?
Who never gets noticed enough to be nominated?
Who had a million friends last week and none this week? 

You see, Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or “exceptional citizens.” Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s looking for children who are struggling to connect with other children. She’s identifying the little ones who are falling through the cracks of the class’s social life. She is discovering whose gifts are going unnoticed by their peers. And she’s pinning down- right away- who’s being bullied and who is doing the bullying.

As a teacher, parent, and lover of all children – I think that this is the most brilliant Love Ninja strategy I have ever encountered. It’s like taking an X-ray of a classroom to see beneath the surface of things and into the hearts of students. It is like mining for gold – the gold being those little ones who need a little help – who need adults to step in and TEACH them how to make friends, how to ask others to play, how to join a group, or how to share their gifts with others. And it’s a bully deterrent because every teacher knows that bullying usually happens outside of her eyeshot – and that often kids being bullied are too intimidated to share. But as she said – the truth comes out on those safe, private, little sheets of paper.

As Chase’s teacher explained this simple, ingenious idea – I stared at her with my mouth hanging open. “How long have you been using this system?” I said.
Ever since Columbine, she said. Every single Friday afternoon since Columbine.

Good Lord.

This brilliant woman watched Columbine knowing that ALL VIOLENCE BEGINS WITH DISCONNECTION. All outward violence begins as inner loneliness. She watched that tragedy KNOWING that children who aren’t being noticed will eventually resort to being noticed by any means necessary.

And so she decided to start fighting violence early and often, and with the world within her reach. What Chase’s teacher is doing when she sits in her empty classroom studying those lists written with shaky 11 year old hands - is SAVING LIVES. I am convinced of it. She is saving lives.

And what this mathematician has learned while using this system is something she really already knew: that everything – even love, even belonging – has a pattern to it. And she finds those patterns through those lists – she breaks the codes of disconnection. And then she gets lonely kids the help they need. It’s math to her. It’s MATH. 

All is love- even math. Amazing.

Chase’s teacher retires this year – after decades of saving lives. What a way to spend a life: looking for patterns of love and loneliness. Stepping in, every single day- and altering the trajectory of our world.

TEACH ON, WARRIORS. You are the first responders, the front line, the disconnection detectives, and the best and ONLY hope we’ve got for a better world. What you do in those classrooms when no one is watching- it’s our best hope.

respect learned at home

    This morning three boys came and reported that one of my students pointed a lazer light in their eyes. The student vehemently denied it all. I called his step dad who told me to leave his kid the Hell alone and he hung up on me. The student spent another 15 minutes denying until I brought the other students in. He then admitted that he found the pen on the ground and then shone it in their eyes. He had the audacity to say that it was the kids fault who dropped it outside because it tempted him. WOW!
    I am as disturbed by the step-dad's reaction as I am about the student's behavior. No wonder he lies.

Honest Abe

    I grew up in New England. I went to school in a 1 room school, one teacher, six grades. My parents were patriotic, we said the pledge every morning as well as a prayer. We had a two holer in the basement and a ceramic water jug in the classroom. We brought cups and hankies from home as well as sack lunches. My best friend and I often traded sandwiches. My liverwurst for her jelly. The classroom was silent-we didn't talk out, we never disrespected our teacher, ever. Had we done so, the whole community would have chastised us,not just our parents. We would not shame our folks or ourselves that way.
    Among My Heroes were Abe Lincoln and George Washington. It has remained so.
    An 8th grade girl was walking in the hall as I went to take a break during the final couple of hours of school. She wore a shirt with one of my heroes, Abe Lincoln on it-except something was very wrong. Abe Lincoln was flashing a gang sign. I was saddened. Not only by the incredible disrespect the shirt showed to a great  American president, but also on a personal level, to me. Who makes these shirts anyway-and who the heck sells them? 

uncommon values #2

I teach-children.
     After lunch there was a stampede of 9th graders with tons of noise and phones raised high to document the event, but the event wasn't there. The ruse was used to distract and pull teachers away so the fight could occur. As one girl ducked into my classroom, another chased her and beat her-at the very least, she will have 2 black eyes.
     All of this was orchestrated on Facebook and then  during lunch by the very popular and "famous on facebook" assailant. I was told that no one will tell on her because they don't want to be the next one beat up.
    Such chaos. At their age, I just wanted to go home and read my book or ride my horse-I was wierd-backward-whatever.
    This teacher is tired.

Common core/uncommon values

        I am a teacher. I have a BS in early childhood ed. an endorsement in mild/moderate disabilities and a Masters in counseling. I teach in an inner city junior high public school.
        By the 1st bell for the first period of the day I heard the "F" word over 5 times among the litany of other curses and sexual comments. I have that "talk" with one-a pretty girl with a lovely smile. She calls home, her parent is unconcerned but tells her not to say that in school.
        If you ask what I teach, I will tell you, I teach children. My schedule reads that I teach social skills and transition classes. I teach children.
        I am writing this as I want folks to have a bit more awareness of what teachers do. The reality is often far from the assumed.