welcome to the box

music : estudyante blues by freddie aguilar


three days into my new job at the high school and i am slowly beginning to understand that i'm in this game for the long haul. i jokingly told karen that my kids are either going to drive me insane, or otherwise. with her signature laugh, she patted my shoulder and said "you'll be fine, they already like you. if you can get them to actually do work for five minutes, it's a beautiful thing."

great. 5 minutes out of the 50 minutes, that's what 10% productivity? help me. i want my mommy.

i have three 10th grade writing classes, one 9th grade writing and one 9th grade reading. of the five, the first two are the easiest to handle, probably because the 10th graders are more mature or probably also because they are at their calmest in the first couple of hours of school.

my 7th period class is a challenge. i have 5 boys and a girl that i have yet to meet. to say that my 7th period class is a rowdy bunch, is an understatement-- they're nuts. one of them K, have tricked me a couple of times. most of my kids come to class late, and naturally this is a problem. K, being the "helpful" goofball that he is, told me that if i see any of his classmates, (to) call them out and tell them to come inside. so i did. i saw Z and called him. he came quickly inside the classroom, a bit upset. i didn't think too much of it. i saw L and the same thing happened. L yelled at me and told me to close the door. he sat in the farthest seat in the room. Z asked me why i had to call him out. and then it hit me. my kids are ashamed to be seen coming inside my classroom. why? because this is the ed box class. sigh.

i sincerely apologized to the three boys, and i told them that it was not my intention to embarrass them. i then had the strong urge to smack K on the head for misinforming me. my fault actually.

i got a taste of action in my 8th period class. tweedle dee and tweedle dum decided to duke it out calling each other retards. at first it was casual, and then i got scared that they might really hurt each other. Tdee and Tdum were both tall, but Tdee was about 6'5". i tried to break up the fight because the three stoogies were just standing there watching the two beating the crap out of each other. Tdee almost snagged me and when i yelped, that's when he almost gained consciousness and let go of Tdum.

another teacher intervened. a few minutes later one of the security officers checked in also and asked if i wanted any of the boys to be taken out of the classroom. i looked at Tdee and Tdum. Their eyes were pleading not to be taken out. I told them we're fine.

I asked Tdee to stay after school for a few minutes. our conversation went on like this ...

me: I am very disappointed in your behavior.
him: come on miss, we was only playing
me: but how am i supposed to know when you guys are still playing or not?
you guys can seriously hurt each other.
him: didn't the old teacher tell you something about us. this is what we do.
we're just playing. just chill. do not come between us unless you see
blood on the floor.


me: (eyes wide open, jaws dropped) but what if you accidentally hurt me
while i'm trying to break you guys up? do you realize how big you are
compared to me? how easily you guys can send me flying against the wall?

him: (takes my face with both hands and levels his face on mine) miss, we're not
gonna hurt you. we like you. we won't even hurt a single hair of you.


was i scared when he held my face? no. i saw in his eyes that he was serious. he let go of my face and i raised my right eyebrow.

me : fine.


i extended my right hand as if to shake his hand, but i balled it into a fist. he reached out his right fist and we "shook" on it.


man, this is gonna be one hell of an adventure.


welcome to my world.