I wrote this following post last year. I didn't post it at the time because I wasn't sure if I was going back to school in the fall and didn't want to risk being fired for posting things about how I strongly disliked my students this day. But here it is. Last year, on the last day of school, was the worst teaching day in my life. At that moment I was so done, and was not returning to that horrid place. But over the summer I decided I could give teaching another go, which turned out to be for only the first quarter because Graham was born.
Anyway, here's the post...
Since day one of this school year, my 5th hour class has been my nemesis. Consider them the kryptonie or the Lex Luther of this school year. Either way, this class was bad. Yelling, name calling, verbal assaults, you name it. And, I've never heard the f word so many times in my life. They were all bad eggs. All of them. Each day I would suffer through the 60 minutes they were in my classroom, only to dread their return the minute they left. I don't know why I expected the last day of school to be any better.
The last day of school was on a Thursday, and like normal, my 4th hour came and went, ending with students thanking me for being that "cool" teacher, and not crying when they were rowdy. I'm still not sure why they had this fascination with me crying, but they were one of my classes that was actually good. They actually tried, and they actually didn't bother me.
The students in my 5th hour started filing in. Naturally, they were out of their seats, talking, playing a guitar, and doing everything else that they know they shouldn't be doing. After a few minutes of coercing them into their seats, I started to explain their final. When I started passing the tests out, they started talking, which was no surprise, because I had given them that one second of silence that they think means go ahead and talk. Now, excessive talking is something we've been battling in this class for a long time. I had tried everything. I wasn't surprised, and was going to get them settled down when Student A (to keep things anonymous) started yelling at the class to stop talking. Some of the other students didn't really want to hear Student A tell them what to do, so they yelled back. One student, Student B, in particular. Well, Student A and Student B started to have at it. Yelling, telling each other to "shut up" and so on.
I had had it with one of these students yelling at other students, so I called the office and told them to send security. This wasn't the first time this had happened, and today I wasn't going to put up with anything. It was the last day of school, after all. And a finals day.
While I was on the phone for the 5 seconds it took me to ask for security, the heated conversation quickly elevated. In no time they were calling each other everything they could think of, and like a flash, Student A was out of their seat heading for Student B. In a quick moment that seemed to go in slow motion but only lasted a second, they were out in the hall hitting, screaming, scratching, pulling, etc. In an equally quick moment, that also went in slow motion, two teachers from neighboring classrooms were in the hall helping me break it up. I didn't physically get in the middle of them because I knew one of the them would have hit me because they didn't want hear me tell them to stop. (Added later... And because I was pregnant, I wasn't going to risk anything.)
To make things better, one student, we'll call them Student C, who wasn't involved in the fight, had the incredibly rapid reflex to record the fight.
Once the fighting students were taken away, and after they yelled at the assistant principal because they didn't want to go, my class was somewhat in their seats. Well, Student C decided to show one of his friends in a neighboring classroom his video. Needless to say, that teacher got mad and I was mad that he went into another classroom and bothered that class. The assistant principal was back and gave the class a much needed "what in the heck are you thinking" talk. Student C was on his way out.
Adding to my list of students, we'll bring in Student D. Student D thought they would get some laughs and be a smart alec to the assistant principal. And another student out of my room.
We finally started the final.
This is a day that will go down in infamy.
