Lying, Cheating and the words Fuck You

Sorry for such the harsh title, but hey that's just what this blog is all about. So I teach third grade. I have always said, I teach kids therefore I need no birth control. Today was one of those days where I could come home and throw the pills away because I won't be needing any hormones to deter me from having kids.

Actually it started yesterday. One of my little girls, the sweetest girl you could imagine, cheated on a test. Now she is special ed and me being a bone head didn't really think about her accommodations for the test because she just was qualified as special ed. She has always done the tests before, flunked them, then redid them for a higher grade. Well yesterday she was so frustrated and wanted to please me so much, she cheated on the test. Yes in her mind this made more sense than asking for help or saying it was hard. And all of my kids know how I feel about cheating. It is unacceptable. Well I figured out that she cheated and when I asked her of course she said she didn't cheat. So I told her I could give her the test again now that everyone was done, she could do it over and if she didn't get the same exact answers what would I think...and she said that she copied. Bingo! So I asked her the same question in a variety of ways while making her another copy of the test. Finally on the last page she admitted that she cheated. So I sent her to the back table on the verge of tears to do the test. I talked to the teacher next door to me because she has many years of experience and I just couldn't believe that this little girl cheated. We decided that yes she did it and it's wrong, but she didn't do it because she was a little shit...she was frustrated and this way made sense to fix the frustration. Well our special ed teacher who loves her to death and my student teacher all said to just give her an F to learn her lesson. NO! I did what my mom did to her..."I'm not mad at you, but I am very disappointed in your choice." BINGO came the tears. Yes moms out there, you are never mad at your kids, you are always disappointed in their choice (not disappointed in them) because when your parents are disappointed in you...it hurts way worse than any possible punishment. So today I read the test to her as an accommodation because I really wanted to know what she knew about fact and opinion not if she could read it. I already know she can't read it. So she cried for 20 minutes and I reminded her that everyone makes mistakes that's why we have erasers. Today was a better day for her. That takes care of lying and cheating.

Now for the words fuck you. At the very end of the day today, my class was picking up the floor. A child found a sticker that went on one of my books (I use stickers to tell the level...yeah my room is very anally put together for that stuff) and I knew which child had lost it because of the level it said. So I pointed out to this little boy that he needed to find the book he was reading so we could put it back on. The girl who found the sticker quickly told me that she saw him write in the book with marker...OH NO HE DIDN'T! I stress the entire first month of school and probably once a month how to treat my classroom library. (so you understand...I have over 800 books and if you average that each book is $5 yeah that's $4,000 worth of my money that I have spent in three years to make my classroom literature rich...yes it's a good thing...seeing $4,000 in three years written down makes me want to vomit!) You put my books away neatly, they are never to be kept in your desk, and you are never to take them home. If something happens to a book you tell me immediately so that it can be fixed and the problem doesn't get worse. Back to the kid...he brings me the book and he has written on the sticker on the front with black marker...traced over what I wrote. So that means the sticker isn't even from that book, but why did he write on my book. I get annoyed, but that's not that bad. Then I start looking at the book and it looks like it's had water spilled. Hmm...I ask if he took it home and he said no. But he said no...then because the pages are all funky with water and it opened up to the very back page. This is what I find...2.8/.5 and FUCK YOU and then another student's name at the bottom. Ok I really don't like my pages being torn or bent...how do you think I will feel about a kid writing FUCK YOU? Livid that's how I felt! So I asked him and he said that he didn't write that he only wrote the 2.8. Oh that's right and the desk fairy wrote it in the same black marker in the same handwriting. Hmm interesting. So he had his chance with me and then he got to visit the principal with me. Well the one nice thing about our principal is that he stands behind his teachers no matter what. I was looking for a Saturday school...they have to come to school on Saturday from 9-1130 for a punishment. Well he lied to the principal like 5 times when he was asked each time if he did it and when he said he was going to call his dad he was like ok I did it. Well Dad showed up and Dad was ten times more mad than me. Yeah I didn't get my Saturday school...no he got suspended for tomorrow! Whoa...more than I was wanting but it got the point across. He was thinking he was going to revoke his variance which means he would then have to go to his zoned school making it hard on his dad. But the principal gave him this as a warning and then if he messes up again he is out. YIKES!!! So he had to pay for the book, and his dad doesn't want him to have recess all next week, and he can't use my classroom library. There that takes care of lying (again) and Fuck you.

And you know, I say they are good birth control, and yet, I drive to work in the morning and think about how much I enjoy my job. I truly love teaching, even on days like this!