You poke and prod
And have some fun
But, oh, it’s coming back to you,
He’s waiting round the corner,
Justice, with his arms crossed angrily,
He’ll serve it up and then you’ll know
The way should behave.
So, I’ve had a problematic student who has been giving me attitude for a few months now. I’m quite reasonable and I try not to shout but this girl is just too much. She does her make up in the mirrored windows and rolls her eyes at me every time I have the nerve to ask her to do a bit of writing.
I ran out of patience and gave her a detention last week. And she didn’t turn up. The process is that we then escalate to an after school detention. But I gave her another chance….. and then another. And she still didn’t pitch up.
Anyway, I set the afterschool for this evening and she turned up 20 mintues late, eating. When I asked where she had been she said she had decided to go to the shop first. I asked her to leave and come back tomorrow and I think she felt like she had won this little battle.
But, waiting outside my room was the Head of English and he really did lay into her for her attitude. He pulled her into his room and really told her what for. And now she has been booked in for a two hour after school detention with senior leadership.
I think the moral of this story is to not poke the bear. You might be poking a really docile bear (like me), but you don’t know whether a more protective bear is hanging around waiting for some lunch.
Much Love
Rachel xx
PS Is it wrong that I kind of enjoyed her getting her comeuppance?
Margot Kinberg
You’re quite right, Rachel. You can only push things so far before it all comes back to you fiercely. I’m glad the Head understood what was going on and took care of matters and supported you. Sometimes they don’t. And that young lady will learn an important lesson about boundaries and acceptable behaviour. And no, I don’t think it’s bad that you were glad she was caught.
Greg Dennison
Not wrong at all. I was a little excited when I read that a certain student, one of the most obnoxious and irritating I’ve ever had in 23 years of teaching, had been suspended indefinitely with recommendation for expulsion. (The expulsion has since gone through. I heard that the incident was that he made a credible specific death threat to another student.)
I feel kind of sad for this kid, though… he needs a serious reality check before he ends up dead or in jail given the way his life is going… 🙁
patientandkindlove
Wow, that’s really bad. I always wonder what has happened in their lives to make them behave like that. And as you say, I worry about what is in their future if they continue in that way.
Greg Dennison
Exactly… 🙁
juliadeniro
From the sound of it, you’ve been way too nice to this girl. I’m definitely glad she got her comeuppance.