PART 2: “...it was the worst of times.” Not a “Sunny Sarah” post

I know it’s difficult to attend school after a two-week break. You’re happy on Monday to talk to friends about your vacation, but by Tuesday the novelty vanishes and it’s “oh, no, do we have to go to school?” If you read my earlier post about the 2010 English Conversation Winter Olympics, you’ll notice that I anticipated disinterest and behavior issues the 1^st week after vacation and tried my best to offset them by creating an engaging and surprising first lesson. Overall, my plan succeeded...until my two classes of 8^th grade boys on Thursday.

For one class of 8^th grade boys, I only saw the students for 15 minutes because they had a field trip. We only finished the Olympics “opening ceremony.” At the conclusion, four students did the Nazi/Hitler salute. I held them after class and told them that I was reporting this to their homeroom teacher and that if I saw them saluting again I would report their behavior to the principal of the school. It was not acceptable in my classroom. They apologized.

After my second class with 8^th grade boys, I realized that I had forgotten one of my dictionaries in the classroom and returned to the room to discover that they had drawn dozens of swastikas on the blackboard. I later discovered that both classes had also drawn swastikas and Stars of David on handouts I had given them in class. Upset, sad, furious, and disappointed, I immediately visited the school office and asked to talk to the director of the school. If you have discipline problems in one of your classes, you’re supposed to talk to the students’ homeroom teacher, and then the homeroom teacher addresses the issue during homeroom the following week. I try to respect the discipline system the school established, but asking the homeroom teacher to talk to them NEXT WEEK was not acceptable. The students had finished school and left for the day (my lesson is their last lesson), but I – I, not their homeroom teacher – needed to tell them ASAP that this behavior is hateful and not acceptable in my classroom.

What’s especially sickening about their “jokes” is that the Holocaust “succeeded” in Poland. I know that’s an unusual way to describe it, but Hitler wanted to destroy the Jewish race, and in Poland, he did. The Nazis murdered three million Polish Jews and three million non-Jewish Poles, especially political leaders and other leaders because the Nazis wanted to strip Poland of its leadership to prevent uprisings. Before WWII, 10% of Poland’s population was Jewish. Fewer than 150,000 Polish-Jewish people (of over 3-3.5 million) survived WWII.

When I approached the director/principal, she said she would talk to the homeroom teacher, and I had anticipated this response because that’s the policy. But I told her that I was upset and I wanted to talk to the students myself – and ASAP. She listened and asked me what I wanted to do next. I asked her if I could have a meeting with all of the 8^th grade boys the following morning during the 10-minute break. She said okay and offered to attend the meeting to help translate if necessary and to show her support of what I said (I planned to ask her to attend, but I appreciate that she offered without me asking). I cannot adequately thank her for letting me address the students and for offering to attend the meeting with me. It’s not how the school responds to problems, but it was important to me that I talked to the students, not their homeroom teacher. And no, in my opinion, it couldn’t wait until homeroom next week.

I also learned from the principal that the school had serious discussions with a couple students in my classes last semester because of inappropriate Holocaust and Nazi jokes and illustrations. I wish I could say that it’s reassuring to know that this behavior is not unique to my classroom, but instead it’s awful to know that they tried to address this last semester and it’s occurring again.

I held the meeting with my 8^th grade boys this morning and I feel good about it. Not good that it was necessary, but good about how I chose to respond to the situation. I told the students how I felt and I know I scared them a little. I’m typically sunny, cheery, and frequently laughing in the classroom. Today when I was talking to them I was so angry and upset I was shaking. I told them how saddened I was that they would joke about the Holocaust when millions of Poles were murdered by the Nazis. I told them that if I heard/saw any jokes or illustrations in the future, I would immediately escort the student(s) to the principal’s office (you also “don’t do that” here, but trust me, I will if I need to). After the meeting, many of the students would not look me in the eyes, and that’s good. They left the room silently, and I know their classmates (who were not involved) heard about our discussion because they were very timid in my classes today (but warmed up eventually). But the involved students now know that I will not tolerate this behavior, and they know that the school administration is aware of the situation and backing me up. But it breaks my heart that I had to have this discussion with them.

. . .

One hour after telling 30 boys that swastikas and the Hitler salute are symbols of hate and not acceptable in my classroom, one of my classes of 9^th grade boys (the class with 4 students who were almost expelled at the beginning of the year for drug possession and other behavior issues) locked me out of the classroom. Whoever taught in Room #1 before me left the key to the classroom in the room instead of hanging it up in the teachers’ room. I arrived to Room #1 a couple minutes late because I was trying to track down the key and the students had locked the door from the inside. I knocked, and they let me in, but I was livid. I reported the incident to their homeroom teacher, talked to the principal, and wrote about the incident in the “school behavior book” reserved only for the most “horrific” discipline issues. Of course, I also immediately responded in the classroom and the students knew that they were toast. It’s a little reassuring that this class has it’s own special page in the “school behavior book” because of the number of issues they’ve had this year (again, they don’t act up only in my classes, but I’d prefer that they didn’t act up at all!), but I was furious and very disappointed. Needless to say, they behaved exceedingly well for that lesson after our “talk.”

. . .

I’m happy to say that of my five classes today, 4 were spectacular and a lot of fun. At the end of the day, I packed my bag to go home, put on my boots (we have lots of snow and today is the 6^th straight day of snowfall in a row!), and then the principal of the school found me to tell me that...my neighbors - attempting to fix their plumbing - had accidentally drilled a large hole through my kitchen wall! (These are the neighbors who have screaming matches at 3 a.m. 2-3 times a week next to the paper-thin wall we share – there’s a tradition in Poland that says whatever you do on New Year’s, you’ll do for the rest of the year. Well, they were screaming...not a good outlook for 2010.) Sadly (but thankfully!), they quickly repaired the hole before I could photograph it, but at least you can see the size of the hole in this photograph. Impressive, isn't it?

“...it was the worst of times.” One of my challenges in the classroom is responding quickly and effectively to problems. My policy is to respond immediately to discipline problems (I also NEVER “turn a blind eye”), but I would prefer to stop, think, consider, re-think, re-consider, re-evaluate before having to speak and act. But I feel good – as good as I could feel given the circumstances – about how I handled the discipline issues today (of course, you wish they wouldn’t exist at all). Luckily, it’s the weekend; I’m talking to friends and family today and having “fancy tea” at a teahouse with a friend tonight, and Colleen and I are celebrating Christmas/New Year’s on Sunday because we weren’t together for the holidays (I’m baking strawberry cream cheese French toast with strawberries I froze in the fall!). And with all the snow, I know we’ll have a white Christmas!