history b sucks

so i made it through another monday.

not that it was that hard...yesterday was teacher's day, so i actually got presents from two of my students in honor of Teacher's Day. Charles, my great student who asked me if I liked ABBA on the first day, gave me a really pretty card, which I promptly taped up at my desk in the office. Another student, Katherine, gave me some dark chocolate. Now I'm sure it was their parents' idea to get their teachers gifts, but flattery will get you EVERYWHERE with me. Although honestly, these are 2 of my good students, so it's not like they really need to buy a grade or my affection. It was funny cause when Boris, another one of my favorite students, saw me open the chocolate that Katherine gave me and saw how much I liked it, he came up to me and said "Miss Stephanie, I'll bring you a present next time!!" Aww.

So of course that brightened my day a bit, which was good because going into 7th period I had a bad feeling. 7th period is the dreaded History B class. On Mondays I have both sections of the history class that I teach, right in a row. The A section is awesome. There are 20 kids in the class, they are attentive, and seem pretty interested in learning the material. I was able to get through all of the material with them today and gave them the last 10 minutes in class to start their homework.

History B, however, was not so lucky. Those kids never shut the hell up. I appreciate that they are usually asking me somewhat history related questions, but most of it is stuff that isn't totally related to what we're discussing in class, and also stuff that I don't know the answers to. When we're talking about the alliances that helped start the cause of World War I, I really don't need 6th grade boys interrupting me (literally interrupting) with questions about bombs and how to build a battleship. It didn't matter how much I threatened them today...these kids would not stop asking ridiculous questions. And then there's another kid who honestly knows WAY more than I do about the subject. I'm not exaggerating. When I don't know the answer to something and I'm thinking of a way to respond to it, he just blurts it out and i KNOW that what he's saying is correct. I'm totally shocked that a 6th grader knows more about World War I than someone who just graduated with a degree in history from the University of Michigan...but also sort of embarrassed and really impressed.

So anyway, I finally started threatening to tell their class teachers on them. The class teacher here is sort of like a homeroom teacher at home. Granted, I don't even really know what that means because we didn't have 'homeroom' in high school. We only went to our homeroom teacher to get our report cards at the end of the semesters...but here the class teacher is like the one who is in charge of one class of students in one grade. So they deal with disciplinary issues, and have contact with the parents. I was so pissed off when class ended because I wasn't even able to get through all the material with History B, let alone give them any time to work on their homework in class (which a few of them didn't deserve anyway, but the girls are so well-behaved that I feel guilty). So as soon as the bell rang, I walked up the stairs to my office and found the class teacher for the two boys that were causing me the most grief. I felt like such a tattle...like when I was little and I would tell on other kids in my class when they did something wrong. I know it's not a good trait to have, so it made me feel weird to tell on these students that are at least somewhat my responsibility. It made me feel like I had failed at least slightly, because I SHOULD be able to have control over my classroom. But whatever. These kids were acting like assholes and refused to raise their hands and literally interrupted me while I was trying to explain things to the class. I'd had enough. So I told the class teacher and she promised me that she would call their parents.

It's ridiculous how angry 6th graders can make you. I'm trying to let it go and I want to start fresh when I see them again on Thursday. But man, that is hard. Maybe they'll be better behaved on Thursday....?