This was Homecoming Week.

Monday was dress like a "hobo" day. Derrick Chestern walked in 30 minutes late with a tire around his neck and crack powder around his lips (like Chappelle). The middle of the week was exhausting but I taught some good lessons. We did skits about amendments 11-27. We had great informal conversations about what activities they learned the most from. My students are hilarious. I laughed a lot during the middle of the week.

Today was Friday. Sharai Kelsey came in 45 minutes late, didn't do any work, and then told me that "this isn't education. Nothing in this school ain't about education." She got into a fight with Ronnie Williams and called his side of the class "monkeys." I was calm the whole time. I hugged Ronnie and got him to ignore her. The rest of the day went okay.

The pep rally started at 2:30. I played in the faculty/staff basketball game. I got a cheap steal, a couple of uncalled fouls, some rebounds, and I made one of two free throws. Afterwards, the football team came down and got the students hyped. Then, the Seniors did their skit. It was funny. They got some of the teachers to put tinfoil grills in their mouths. Everything was really going great.

Then a brawl erupted between some football players and some thugs. I was standing below the bleacher that it happened on. Most of the students stampeded off the bleachers, but some fighters stayed. It was violent. I saw about 3 or 4 mini-fights between individuals going on. Two cops and the principal rushed in. They were violent as well, and personally dragged out three troublemakers. I gained a new appreciation for my school and my principal watching the prinicipal get in students faces. It's a war, but there are some soldiers in the fight.

It all made me so sad. Couldn't they not fight for one fucking hour? Security and the principal got things under control, and I walked back in to cart some notebooks for grading out to my truck. The veterans were smiling and back to business as usual after the fight. Apparently, what had saddened me so much was just part of the routine. It was really healthy for me to see them just moving forward from the situation, even though I know it must kill them to see such violence.

I'm going to write about Bryant Kapley. I don't think he would mind if I used his real name.

Mr. Kapley is a nerd. His voice whines and his fashion sense is a little sloppy. He talks and talks and talks even when no one is listening. He wrote his master's on the millenium bug. I wrote him off as a nerd at New Teacher Orientation. Everyone dogs on Mr. Kapley. He hasn't been a very good teacher because he cannot be mean to the kids. But is that so bad? The problem is, you have to be mean to teach at my school.

His experience at school was a nightmare. On time he had about 60 kids in his class, 20 of whom weren't supposed to be there. Kids make fun of him all the time and all he can do is smile. Students turn off the lights in his class and pour rubbing alcohol on him.

He stayed for one grading period. He is quitting and will be gone on Tuesday. He didn't need to come today because it was Teacher Planning Day, but he did anyways. He helped me unwrap shrinkwrapped textbooks in boxes for 3 hours. He talked and talked and talked, but he had some things to say. He talked about the students, and how in the end it was they who lost out. Perhaps he was not a great teacher, but those children treated him horribly. He is a nice man. He talked about being ashamed of his father's lack of education and about coming to realize that he had so much to learn from him. His views on the Holocaust, Gay Rights, and slavery were thought provoking as well. I left him for an hour to meet some furniture being delivered to my house and he kept stickering the World History textbooks. I worked in my room for awhile and he stayed in the storage room stickering textbooks. It was a huge help.

Teaching is not for everyone but you are not a failure if you can't do it. Mr. Kapley is a genius. He is simply too smart, and perhaps too nice to be at a place like my school. I wish him luck.-

I was very prepared for today. I had ALL my grades done for the first nine weeks. I had copies made. I had cleaned my room and rearranged the desks into groups on Tuesday. My lesson plan was a creative two-part review for a BIG test next Tuesday. The first part was low on Bloom's, a simple competition to test them for knowledge. The second part was more complicated and ambitious. I had separate groups prepare an outline for one of the possible essay questions on the test and share with the rest of the class. That way, the whole class should conceivably have the outlines for all the questions. I thought things would go simply.

In second period, not surprisingly, they did go smoothly. My students weren't as familiar with how to support an argument as I thought they would be, but I taught a good mini-lesson on it on the fly. They participated and some decent learning took place.

My seventh period seriously pissed me off. They ruined my day just as it had started. We could not get through the first part of the review because a rebel group in the back left part of the room seceded from the rest of the class. The talking was contagious and they didn't learn anything.

My fourth period kept cheating and calling the answers out loud, so the game I had planned took a nosedive. Then Lunch. Then, a "Code Red" was announced on the intercom. I knew that meant some s*** was going down, but I wasn't sure what the students and I were supposed to do. Thankfully, they announced that all students should be in a classroom or office and that teachers were not to allow anyone out of the room for any reason. It was Code Red for 50 minutes. Considering the situation, my kids did pretty well with the second half of the review. Some of them even listened to me when I said it would be a smart idea to copy down the outlines. It turned out there was a fight and possible weapon sighting in the student parking lot. I feel like I got beat up today, especially since I was so prepared. Preparation is a necessity when teaching, but it is not a guarantee of success.