big bad brother nassir

I finally got fed up with the attitude and actions of some of my students. We call it an Islamic school, but the morals seemed to be lacked. Therefore, on my part, I decided to crack down on two things : lying and improper gender interaction.

Although the latter is only a few select students, the former is a common problem. Most students do not even understand what counts as lying. It is always "I was just joking."

First time will be a simple warning, but the second is a detention. I'm hoping that this new policy will help to fix the problems.

Anyway, I announced this policy today, and most students didn't seem to care. Then, one student who has been guilty of the latter problem (and most people know it) asked for me to name the kids who have been involved in this. I said I would not. When the student asked why I told him/her I did not want to expose the people's sins in front of others.

I think this really hit her (although only time will tell). She was silent for the rest of the period. I just hope that it really does stick with her.

I found the most amazing note today.

I was in the library and looked through a random drawer, and I found a note. It read:

Hell yeah. What kind do you do?
ghetto a lil like BS u?
All kinds. Tango, salsa, break, etc.
awsum can u do da heel toe teach me
Y? Usually kids think that a tomboy shouldn't be doing that type of dancing!
yea wat the hell

Imagine a 6th grader asking another 6th grader to teach her the heel toe. As the students love to quote me in saying, Amazing.

I ate quail last night.

Unrelated to the title, I had a student observer today. He's actually a friend of mine from UIC. He's clearly Desi, and I'm clearly not. He is walking around the class, helping students with their group work, even though I'm English and he's History. One student yells out the question:

"Is he your brother?"

I just started laughing. My students are so darn cute. I will miss them. It is really hard to leave the students at the end of the year. You spend so much time with them that they begin to feel like your children. They act like they hate me, but then they get upset when I mention not being there next year.

"You can't go. Who's going to teach us? We don't want Ms. ***** back."

I'll miss the kid in 1st grade who clings to my leg and the 2nd grader who looks like I did when I was his age, completely adorable ;).

I'm sure there will be a water works from my side come June.