I have this one student who is a constant thorn in my side. Every day it’s the same story… he refuses to do work; he talks constantly, even calling out across the room to annoy his classmates; and he doesn’t seem to mind the fact that he’s failing miserably.
I try to deal with this misbehavior, of course. I fuss at him. I yell at him. I threaten to send him to the principal for disrupting his classmates (which usually does stop him from calling out). I send letters home (after trying and failing to reach his parents by phone) letting them know that he will not receive credit for my class unless he shapes up.
It doesn’t matter. Three things are always certain:
He will not do his work.
He will continue talking.
He won’t act even slightly resentful toward me.
It bothers me. It gnaws at me. Most troublesome students have the decency to get irritated with me from time to time. They usually act like I’m interfering with their lives when I fuss or yell at them. Practically all of them at least give me the cold shoulder and a quiet sneer when I crack down on their misdeeds.
Not this one.
He just shrugs and smiles… not sarcastically or rebelliously, but as though I’ve said something mildly humorous. He’ll quiet down or write a couple of words on his paper, but five minutes later he’s back to talking or staring off into space.
When I run into him after school, he’s completely friendly, as though I’m his favorite teacher.
What the heck is wrong with this kid?
Does he honestly enjoy being in trouble all the time? Is he glad that I take the time to tell him to shut his mouth and do the work?
It bugs me. He’s a disgrace to high school dropouts everywhere.
Dang.
Some of our disaffected youth really need to learn how to act like hoodlums.
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This blog started as an outlet for a nice bit of fiction every now and then, but more of my real life or real memories keep appearing. Take it all with a grain of salt, though.
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Ha, once again your wit did not dissapoint. How dare that misguided youth not cower to your superior ways…. thanks for the laugh. At the risk of being obvious though, what if the lad is lacking appropriate attention, and is happy to get any attention therefore your negative attention is bolstering him? Thoughts?
Could be, but even attention-starved students tend to get mad at me after a while. I dunno.
My Mom had a kid like this in one of her classes. He would never even consider behaving properly but always enjoyed running into her in real life, as tho he thought she was the greatest teacher ever. Trina has it spot on: it’s attention craving in the purest sense. Most likely the kid is completely ignored in his home life, leaving him not only wanting attention, but also leaving him without the faintest sense of success or failure. If a child grows up without parents ever using the carrot OR the stick, they become willing to have either, just to have SOMETHING.
Could be the same kid. Might explain why I found it so hard to get in touch with his parents (and why they haven’t tried to get in touch with me).
Dang parents… it’s like I said in my last post, they’re too caught up in their jobs and stuff to bother with their own genetic offspring.
Darth, somehow I’d never noticed this before, but your avatar in these comments is very… “new black.”
I started to make an RvB reference about “lightish red”, but I don’t think you would get it. But you know, I think it’s gotten even lighter than it used to be.
Let’s go for “milky red.” No, I wouldn’t have gotten it.