Unlucky Charms

I'm back to school. And it took me all day to get used to it. This morning, before school, my hubby came by and helped me rearrange my classroom (mainly because I get bored of looking at it the same way and also because I needed to move some desks closer to mine), and I just felt like I couldn't get back into the swing of things. I felt almost like a sub in someone else's classroom, or like it was my very first day of school. It took the entire first block (1st/2nd period) to get a handle on things.

That being said, by 7th/8th period, I remembered right where I had left off last semester--with a class that tried my patience and exhausted me. I have been praying for a few days prior to today, that I would have renewed strength and a new perspective with these kids. They aren't out of control or real bad, it's just a little chatter and boys that are constant comedians. It's tiring and gets old.

And then there's The Charmer. He's a sweet boy with good intentions, but let's just say that I'm sure at home, he smiles at his mom the right way and gets pretty much anything he wants. Or gets out of trouble. Like at school. In the past, The Charmer has talked his way out of an lunch detention for chewing gum in my class, because he promised with-all-his-heart-hope-to-die-stick-a-needle-in-his-eye that he wouldn't ever have gum in my class again, and if ever he did chew gum again, he said that I could just write him an ASD (After School Detention). We had a deal. Why, I don't know. Teachers shouldn't make deals with students. It means that he's won. But I felt like giving him a break that day, because I really believed he would never ever chew gum in my class again. And really, so far, he hasn't.

But his charm has worn off. I am not making deals anymore with him or any other student for that matter. They take advantage and get away with stuff that they shouldn't. Today, The Charmer and his crew decided they'd rather chit-chat than get their work done. I moved him and two other boys to isolation desks and warned them to stop talking. Well, they didn't. So, I decided not to waste my time hounding them about talking and babying them over it. They know what the consequence is if they choose to be noisy. So I waited. I waited until the very end of class and handed them all lunch detentions. You should have seen the shocked and astonished looks on their faces. I explained calmly that they had already been moved and that I wasn't going to keep warning them. I heard a "whatever" under The Charmer's breath, but I chose not to pursue that. He knows now that I am not falling for the sweet smile and puppy dog eyes. So he's mad at me for a day or two, and then he'll get over it. And hopefully learn that his charms aren't that lucky afterall...