I am a bitch

According to a student, anyhow. Walking my kids quietly to lunch and we passed the gym where a group of boys was waiting for their class to begin. Actually they were released from their earlier class and were waiting for the next class to begin. Not supervised (as is policy, but with exploratory classes, which draw from several classes, it doesn't happen). One of them decides to call out "Mr. Parry is a bitch" loudly enough to be heard 50 feet away, which is where we were. A bunch of my students laugh, and I give them the talk on not encouraging negative behavior. The catcalling continues, though, past when my class has entered the cafeteria. Now several of the boys are shoving on the gym door, trying to keep somebody inside. When I arrive, they all feign ignorance as to what was said and who said it. But several laugh and keep peeking into the gym. "there is a boy under the bleachers" I am told. He crawls out - - long story short he is a Special Ed student with quite a few anger issues, and was hiding from consequences. Our school has a bad track record of allowing kids with special needs to wander the halls with few if any consequences, and this is the result.

In a related story, I have a defiant honors student who likes to challenge me by doing things to provoke a correction (such as eating in my class, sometimes twice during a period). When corrected, he then becomes defiant, trying to rationalize things, and playing the victim to get support from his classmates. Naturally this leads to lost class time, which rewards the students who support his behavior, since they deduce if HE gets in trouble, they get to watch and be amused, and not pay a penalty for not having teaching take place. Long term thinking is not a strong suit, so they don't think of the consequences of losing that time when tests come around.

Getting chilly in the early pre-dawn. Today was in the 60s, and was kind of cool for riding at first. Was still kind of cool on the return trip, as well as blustery. Not to mention a number of little old ladies who cut me off without benefit of turn signals.