I have often shared with friends that one of my greatest fears of teaching is losing a child. I don't know that I could handle my own personal grief. I tend to get very attached to these rascals in my life.
Everyone breathe...I am not losing a child this week!
However, I am keeping a very watchful eye over one of them. I have a student named Micah. He is a spitfire of a young man. He is definitely one of those kids who you bond with simply because of his personality. He is just a ball of energy at school. He may not be the brightest on in the class, but he has one of the quickest wits.
Micah is the youngest of four sons in his family. He has two brothers in high school and one in college. His father is the senior pastor at a local church, and his mother work in the teen ministry.
Unbeknown to me, Micah's mother has been very ill. None of us knew. It has never shown on his face or in his personality. He is always this glowing ball of energy! This week is the week we all found out about his mom's illness.
We learned of her illness this week when it popped up on one of my colleague's Facebook account. I took some time to talk with Micah about his mom's illness, but he would not divulge too much information. Believe me when I tell you that his silence is uncommon. I became very worried. On Wednesday, Micah was absent. I immediately thought something had happened to his mother. I was right. Turns out that complication to her illness caused her to have a heart attack or stroke. (I am not 100% positive as to which one it was.) She is now in a coma on life-support.
Micah actually came to school on Thursday, and I was stunned. I pulled him aside to ask about his mom and why he was at school. He made it clear that he asked his dad to let him go to school. The boy just needed some normalcy in his life. It was clear something was wrong with him, but luckily he has some fantastic friends who kept his mind occupied during the rest of the week.
I have been watching Facebook to keep up this weekend on his mother. It is clear that she will not be here much longer. I worry so much about Micah losing his mother and the effects it will have on him. I cannot imagine losing my mother (or father) at such a young age.
My teammates and I feel helpless in this situation. We have offered our support however we are needed. It is clear we will be needed to help Micah adjust when the time comes.
Now I find myself at a loss. I am not used to feeling helpless. I want to help, but I also know that there are people all around this family helping them with whatever they may need.
I guess I will continue to pray for this family.
February 12, 2011
February 9, 2011
2 Days - 2 Students - 2 Police Reports
I don't know what has been going on this week, but it seems that insanity has struck my students!
Day 1 of Fun
On Tuesday morning our school resource officer is at my classroom door looking for one of our girls. After about an hour we finally learn what was going on with this student. Seems Katie (names changed, of course) decided to make a phone call on her friends cell phone during the bus ride home on Monday. In fact, she made fifty-five (55) phone calls...to 9-1-1. She decided to make prank calls to the police department. She made reports that people were shooting at the bus, that a student had a knife on the bus, that two kids on the bus were threatening to kill, etc. The police department called the director of transit to locate the bus, and they went out to stop the bus.
To make matters worse, Katie lied to the police and told them two elementary (younger and smaller) kids stole the phone and made the prank calls. The parents of those kids were called and questioned. It was an absolute mess! To add to the fun, turns out the phone wasn't even hers. It belonged to her friend, Cheyenne.
Did I mention why she decided to prank call 9-1-1? She called them because it was the only number the phone was able to call. Ugh!
Since this was first a bus incident, she was assigned 3 days of in-school suspension. But there is more. The police are filing charges against her for filing a false police report. Good grief!
Day Two of Fun
I got to work this morning and my teammate couldn't wait to tell me about the fiasco that ensued on Tuesday afternoon. One of our boys, Trey, got home from the bus with red all over his face, head, hands, and even inside his mouth. He told his grandmother (who is his guardian) that another student, Seth, gave him a piece of exploding bubble gum. The grandmother was supposedly histerical and took Trey to the emergency room. The doctors and social worker at the hospital called the police and the poison control center. Then, they called the school and spoke to our assistant principal. Evidently, the police wanted to know why we were allowing our children to be poisoned. (GOOD GRIEF!) The principal calls Seth's mother to inquire about the exploding bubble gum. Seth tells his mother that Trey had bit into a red pen and spread all the ink all over himself because he did not want to go to school the next day. A few other kids on the bus were questioned and corroborated Seth's explanation of the event. However, this bit of info was not shared with Trey's grandmother just yet. That comes later. Consequently, the police file a report, take photos, etc.
Guess who came to school this morning...Trey. His hands and face were still pinkish-red from the ink they were unable to get off his skin. This will take time. Trey spent the morning telling every human being in sight about how Seth gave him this exploding bubble gum and that his grandmother was filing charges against Seth for this.
The principal spent the day interviewing students trying to get to the root of it all. Finally, at around 2:00 today, they finally got Trey to confess to the lies. He did bite into the pen and make this mess on his own. Seth was an innocent student. Trey's grandmother came into the school this afternoon, and a meeting took place with Trey, his grandmother, two principals, a guidance counselor, and our school resource officer. Trey confessed in front of his grandmother. She was shocked, embarrassed, and extremely pissed off!
Trey will be getting three days of in-school suspension. The principal explained that since this was mostly an after-school incident there wasn't much recourse they could do. (The three days were really for bullying which stemmed from spreading the lies about Seth across the school.) However, the principal did stress to the grandmother and our school resource officer that he believes the police should file charges against Trey for filing a false report. There was also mention of Trey needed to, at some point, apologizing to Seth and his parents for putting them through all this ridiculousness.
It was definitely and interesting few days. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.
Day 1 of Fun
On Tuesday morning our school resource officer is at my classroom door looking for one of our girls. After about an hour we finally learn what was going on with this student. Seems Katie (names changed, of course) decided to make a phone call on her friends cell phone during the bus ride home on Monday. In fact, she made fifty-five (55) phone calls...to 9-1-1. She decided to make prank calls to the police department. She made reports that people were shooting at the bus, that a student had a knife on the bus, that two kids on the bus were threatening to kill, etc. The police department called the director of transit to locate the bus, and they went out to stop the bus.
To make matters worse, Katie lied to the police and told them two elementary (younger and smaller) kids stole the phone and made the prank calls. The parents of those kids were called and questioned. It was an absolute mess! To add to the fun, turns out the phone wasn't even hers. It belonged to her friend, Cheyenne.
Did I mention why she decided to prank call 9-1-1? She called them because it was the only number the phone was able to call. Ugh!
Since this was first a bus incident, she was assigned 3 days of in-school suspension. But there is more. The police are filing charges against her for filing a false police report. Good grief!
Day Two of Fun
I got to work this morning and my teammate couldn't wait to tell me about the fiasco that ensued on Tuesday afternoon. One of our boys, Trey, got home from the bus with red all over his face, head, hands, and even inside his mouth. He told his grandmother (who is his guardian) that another student, Seth, gave him a piece of exploding bubble gum. The grandmother was supposedly histerical and took Trey to the emergency room. The doctors and social worker at the hospital called the police and the poison control center. Then, they called the school and spoke to our assistant principal. Evidently, the police wanted to know why we were allowing our children to be poisoned. (GOOD GRIEF!) The principal calls Seth's mother to inquire about the exploding bubble gum. Seth tells his mother that Trey had bit into a red pen and spread all the ink all over himself because he did not want to go to school the next day. A few other kids on the bus were questioned and corroborated Seth's explanation of the event. However, this bit of info was not shared with Trey's grandmother just yet. That comes later. Consequently, the police file a report, take photos, etc.
Guess who came to school this morning...Trey. His hands and face were still pinkish-red from the ink they were unable to get off his skin. This will take time. Trey spent the morning telling every human being in sight about how Seth gave him this exploding bubble gum and that his grandmother was filing charges against Seth for this.
The principal spent the day interviewing students trying to get to the root of it all. Finally, at around 2:00 today, they finally got Trey to confess to the lies. He did bite into the pen and make this mess on his own. Seth was an innocent student. Trey's grandmother came into the school this afternoon, and a meeting took place with Trey, his grandmother, two principals, a guidance counselor, and our school resource officer. Trey confessed in front of his grandmother. She was shocked, embarrassed, and extremely pissed off!
Trey will be getting three days of in-school suspension. The principal explained that since this was mostly an after-school incident there wasn't much recourse they could do. (The three days were really for bullying which stemmed from spreading the lies about Seth across the school.) However, the principal did stress to the grandmother and our school resource officer that he believes the police should file charges against Trey for filing a false report. There was also mention of Trey needed to, at some point, apologizing to Seth and his parents for putting them through all this ridiculousness.
It was definitely and interesting few days. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.
February 6, 2011
Gotta Love Facebook
These Facebook ads on the side of my screen tend to make my skin crawl. I don't like that they are gathering information about me and trying to produce ads on my page that will tempt me to visit.
Today I found this on the side of my Facebook page. All I kept thinking was "What the..."
Just a note to Facebook - REALLY???
Just a note to Facebook - REALLY???
February 2, 2011
February 1, 2011
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