Tea and Sweatpants...

It has become a priority to me to visit the homes of each child in my class. I have learned in the past that I actually take a glimpse into the life of a child more clearly then I ever could in the school setting. I will be posting about some of them as I continue through the year. My first, however, was this week! What an experience.

Emotionless is the name I give this child. After having him 2 years as a student I've maybe seen him show any kind emotion a total of about 12 times. Wednesday I learned why.

Emotionless is one of 5 children. He is Hispanic and sometimes doesn't understand his mother because his English is better than his Spanish, and sometimes doesn't understand school because he still isn't fluent in English. So identity even through language has been lost. This boy lost his daddy when he was 2 to what I'm thinking was gang activity. His only dream for when he grows up is to not be a gangster. When he was younger he would say "I want to be a fireman" but now that is too unrealistic and babyish for a 9 year old like him. This baby boy (a man in his eyes) and his mother are actually stuck in depression. At home, Emotionless actually talks about killing himself and to the school, mother has talked about killing herself.

Now tell me politicians and law makers how this sweet, depressed, lifeless child is supposed to make AYP. How is he to perform like many other kids in the US who have a cultural identity, who have their daddy, and who aren't fighting the urge to just die. Please, come sit in his living room with me and tell me how this is to happen.

Yes, this is how the climate of our building has been described in the last couple of weeks. We made the news on Monday with the drugs! We had a student in third grade bring marijuana to school. Here is how I found out about it...

Tuesday Morning 8:45 as students are arriving...
New Kid in my class: (mind you he has been completely depressed since he got here). "Mrs. Mucci! We were on the news last night!
Me: No way, how exciting...what about? (I should have known to stop the conversation before it started)
New Kid with enthusiasm: A kid brought drugs to school!
Speechless I followed with...well that's unfortunate...but that would never happen in here RIGHT?

Pretty lame response but what else was I supposed to say if I wasn't even sure it was true?

I then ran next door to ask another teacher if this was truth and sadly it was.

The gun part is also true. We had a 4th grader bring a real gun to school a few weeks ago and there never was a staff meeting on either of these...

Communication and openness and the way issues are addressed in inner city schools is so sad.

Oh yeah, the sex part, this one is kinda funny.
A 4th grade teacher, we'll call her Ms. F said to me...did you also hear about the notes being passed by my students in the lunch room?

The note said..Janie, did you see the kids having sex in the back of Ms. F's classroom?

Ms. F with a chuckle: I know a lot goes on in my class that I may miss in my old age, but I think I would know if that ever happened!

In the end I concluded that MTV has taken over our school, we have all the makings of a music video except for money!

This week we were reading "A Picture Book of Rosa Parks" as my read aloud. The vocabulary words gave us some rich discussion. One in particular struck a cord with me. You probably know as well as I do that discrimination is still very much a reality. Here are some of the things that came out of our discussions this week.

When talking to them about Rosa Parks and the way things were, my students asked about schools...
"Were Mexicans allowed to be in white schools?"
"No they were also considered colored"
"So Blacks and Mexicans didn't go to school with whites?"
"That's correct"
-All of them took a moment to process this...looked around the room... then one said..
"Almost like our class"
-sadly they are correct, I have two white kids in my class and one is Slavic-

When learning the word discrimination...
-I explained what the word was and used a silly extreme example to make the point-
"Mrs. Mucci, I have a real life connection to that. I was at the park with a friend and we were talking to each other, then this kid came up to me and said 'why do you black people always talk like that, you keep saying ain't and stuff. Don't you know how to talk.'"

Many other vibrant conversations came up through the discussion but thought you might like to ponder these.

So, I am realizing that one student in my class is acting about 55 years old as each day passes. He lives as an only child with his grandparents so he actually takes on tendencies of a 55 year old. On Thursday he came in and patiently followed me around the room as I took care of some morning business. Finally, after asking him several times to sit down I asked him what was bothering him. He proceeded to tell me about a fight he had been in with a younger boy on his street. I talked to him about this for several minutes and he expressed his concerns (pros and cons) about fighting. He told me how at home if he doesn't fight back his family will laugh at him...if he fights here at school he'll get suspended. So I talked to him about having a safe place to go to in both settings. I thought this discussion was coming to a close until he started to discuss his level of sensitivity...hum...yes... you read correctly. A 4th grader was actually telling me about how sensitive he was and how he actually might cry if he had to hit back. "I am a pretty sensitive guy Mrs. Mucci, I think that if I don't hit him I will cry but if I do hit him...I think I will cry too." I tried so hard not to giggle at this. So yes, on Friday he reached the age of 57!

My newest member of 4th grade is probably the saddest boy in the world. So many of our kids have issues but this one is very sensitive. Here is the book he made in class this week. I am going to keep the spelling like his to capture his innocence.

"My Life Is Going Bad"
by New Kid

MY life is ging bad

oune (one) Day My MOM and Dad Do Not git a log (along) very wel so I was good.

My mom sid (side) do not like my dad somtims my dad is krasey Mom and my dad will love. each eaother no more dr (they) wot (won't)

so is clos to the End so this is the last

even me and my sis don't git a long we love eachether

I wunt for good (God) to help my famly and me. I am in pane rit naw. I triy to evrey Day But My heart keyps hitting (hurting) me.

The End
By: New Kid

Most kids in our school don't have their parents explaining the maturing process that all of them are about to undertake. I have one girl in particular, let's call her Woman Wannabe. She sadly has no female in her life at home to explain what is happening to her. So, today I have all my kids at the bathrooms with one girl holding the girls bathroom door open. I hear the royal screech "Mrs. Mucci!!!" Woman Wannabe has her pants at her ankles and her underwear at her knees and her head peeking around the corner as she proceeds to announce "I started my period!!!" Needless to say, I sent her to the nurse to explain the process and help with the cleaning up. I almost forgot to mention at the same time I had another girl who's pants couldn't take the stretch any more and she literally busted at the seams. So, while Woman Wannabe was yelling to the world about her period this other girl was standing pinching her pants together wile I poked safety pins in her. Oh yeah, and we're supposed to have all our kids passing reading and math tests this year despite our daily distractions.

This weekend I got the awesome privilege that most teachers have of being attacked by germs. Today when I was at school the kids asked several time, "are you sick?" My favorite was..."Are you sick Mrs. Mucci, I am asking because every time you talk it sounds like DONG, DONG, DONG, DONG!"

Behavior is a constant battle in my school. We have many students who are lacking the ability to differentiate solving problems in the streets vrs. school. We are always telling them, "I'm sure that is a great way to solve problems at home but here at school we have other ways to solve conflicts." So, this year I have been able to keep the extreme outbursts to a minimum...until last Thursday! I have one girl, lets call her "shot-put" who has had many problems in the past but has done very well this year in my room.
On Thursday Shot-put was angry all day about something that happened at home so I had been watching her constantly be on edge with her peers and myself. By 2:00 she had had enough! I needed all of them to clean up their math and get ready for writing. They had adequate time but Shot-put was not going to move an inch until she decided she was done. So, I gave the whole class 20 seconds to be all cleaned up and read for writing. Naturally, I started counting down...20, 19, 18...When I got to 5, 4, 3, ... Shot-put was flaming mad...2, 1, 0..sure enough, from a lying down position, she threw her math journal from the floor to the other side of the room where it landed in somebody's lap! This girl is a beast! After a few moments of dead silence and Shot-put slamming her body down in her chair, I calmly told her what needed to happen (calm down in a quiet place in the room) and she followed directions! Later, I considered asking her if she knew what a shot-put was but decided I had better not foster that skill until she actually has the ball rather than class objects to practice with!

One quarter of my third year of teaching done. I was reflecting on the fact that this truly is my THIRD year teaching. Not a big deal to some but to others a very big deal. I have heard repeatedly that inner city teachers only last three years before they find their way out of there. I completely understand why! If this job was not a calling for me there would be no reason to wake up each day. Sure, there are many wonderful things that happen daily but only by His Grace. In fact, this year has so far been better than the other two. This group of 4th graders are truly precious jewels and I am so excited to see what God has in store for me to learn this year!