I broke up a fight today.

I was getting feedback from my teaching coach today in the school cafeteria during lunch. All of a sudden, I heard yells coming from one of the tables. I looked over, and a group of African American girls were standing up, making a ruckus. I didn't know what was going on.

Then I saw a young man running around the tables. My teaching coach was talking, but I could not concentrate on what she was saying. I realized that the young man was not simply running, but was in fact chasing a young woman. The two students were staring at each other across one of the long tables. The group of girls were smiling maliciously and making a lot of noise. "Someone needs to do something," my coach said.

I hesitated. Was I supposed to do something? I didn't think really...I just reacted. I stood up, walked towards the commotion and started pointing and yelling at the group of girls. "Sit down. Sit DOWN." Miraculously, they listened. Before I had my senses the young man pushed another girl. It was a violent push, and she fell hard into the table top. All I could think of was the horror stories I had heard of teachers being sued for touching students too forcefully. What was I going to do?

Luckily, the seats of the cafeteria tables formed a narrow aisle that I could block by standing with my legs spread slightly. "Sit Down," I said, more calmly than before. I told Daisy, another corps member, to go get the security guard, who for someone reason was not at his normal post of duty in the cafeteria. I was between the young man and the girl he had just pushed. "Look at me," I said. He was breathing hard, and had that look of aggression that kids have. You know the one. He looked like he had had his honor questioned, and was not about to have it questioned anymore. His cheeks were puffed. The girls with malicious smiles dawned on me again, and I was thinking to myself, "I don't have any real power to stop this kid. Legally, I can't even touch him."

But there I was. "Look at me," I said again. I made a motion with my hand, drawing his eyes to mine. "You do not want to repeat this grade again." He continued breathing hard, cheeks puffed and red. "You do not want to repeat this grade again," I repeated. I didn't know what else to do, so I stood tall. "Sit down," I repeated to the group of girls who were saying something. A faculty member came up, and said "He pushed that girl. He needs to go straight to the office." I saw the security guard walking up. I pointed to the young man, and said to the security guard, "This gentlemen pushed another student. Please take him to the office." The boy obeyed.

Walking back to my teaching coach, I shot a stare at the group of girls. I don't know what happened, but I remember middle school, and my guess is they were guilty of some sort of unkindness.

In other Mr. Moore news, I did group work today with my class, which was a big step. It is much more difficult when they are out of rows. It went okay. It was funny to see how much some of my classmates hated working with others. Sadly, girls hated working with guys, and the African American students hated working with the white kids.

Mr. Moore