A good cry never hurts anybody
About three weeks ago a student told me off so bad that it has now become legendary. All the teachers know about it, the administrators and about 70% of the school know about it. The student who told me off is female and for the sake of anonymity we are going to call her Shannon. It all started when flirting went horribly wrong. Somehow Shannon has mistaken innocent flirting for all out beatings and verbal tirades to the male students in the class. When this was going on I told her to be quiet. She ignored me and continued to flirt in the most backwards way that I have ever seen. This coming from a man that used to tie girls hair into knots to flirt when he was in middle school. I had to ask her three or four more times to be quiet until she paid me any attention. She finally started with a tirade directed towards me. She told me that she was going to tell her mom on me and that I need to watch out. She also told me she was going to leave the school, that I am the worst teacher of all time, she hates me and my class, and did I mention she was going to tell her mom on me. When I was finally allowed to get a word in I told her to go to the office. At this point her demeanor changed to nice and sweet and she said “I will sit down now and be quiet.” I told her “No Shannon, go to the office.” At this time she got her stuff mumbled under her breath how much she hated me and began to walk out of the class. As she was walking out I was informing her that I was going to write a referral, at least I attempted to tell her. Each time I began to speak she gave me the “hand” and said “beep.” I again attempted to speak and I received the “hand” and the “beep.” Shannon then stormed out of the room. The students look at me in disbelieve, I wanted to laugh so bad. First the most disturbing flirting of all time, then the most unbelievable tirade of all time, then I received the “hand” and a “beep.” Then a student busted out laughing and I gave out a little chuckle not wanting to reveal how I really felt. I wrote the referral and brought it up to the office and laughed so hard with the principal that it hurt. Fast forward to today. I corrected a girl on her typing form and she turned and said in a playful manner, “Mr. Z I would feel sorry for your kids.” Referring to my overall strictness. Shannon then butted in, “I bet they would run away.” That’s when I told her she has gone too far and that she needed to be quiet and get to work. I walked around the room checking on the students, when I made it to the other side of the room one of Shannon’s disturbing flirting partners whispered to me, “Mr. Z you should have told Shannon if she was your kid you would make her run away.” That is when Shannon yelled “Why are you talking about me?” We went back and forth and few times then she said, “You better be glad my daddy is dead because if he wasn’t he would tell you off just like he did Ms. Jacobs(the elementary school assistant principal).” At that, I told Shannon to go to the office. She got up from her seat mumbling under her breath how much she hated me. She grabbed her book bag and on the way out of class flipped over a desk having it land two inches from another student causing her to fall out of her seat onto the floor. The student on the floor looked like a deer caught in the headlights, it was so funny, but I dared not laugh. I did not want a desk thrown my way. The class was silent for they did not want a desk thrown their way either, they too wanted to laugh. Shannon then calmly picked up the desk, straightened up the row, and even went so far as to fix everyone’s stuff that she moved while flipping over the desk. The room was completely silent, the kind of silent that you find in a movie theater during a horror movie when something bad is about to happen. Shannon then walked out of class to the office. The students looked at me and I could not hold it in. We laughed so hard that it hurt. I even called a student in from the hallway to tell him the story. It was hilarious. I am not going to write a referral because she has given me a treasure of a story that I could not have made up.
