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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

NYC Educator: No Two Troublemakers Are the Same

NYC Educator: No Two Troublemakers Are the Same:


No Two Troublemakers Are the Same

by Recovering ATR 

You know how sometimes it seems as if 99% of your problems whittle down to two students? That's the case this year with a Terrible Twosome that I'll call Johnny and Bobby, for the sake of anonymity. On the surface, Johnny and Bobby are very similar in personality and behavior. They're streetwise, and probably could be very successful if they ever directed their energies towards something positive. As it stands now, they spend all their time being disrespectful, racist bullies. Johnny and Bobby have made racist, sexist remarks in class all year long, they both are awesome liars, and their very presence unnerves the other students. And to be honest, they were unnerving me as well.

Yesterday was a particularly bad day for the Terrible Twosome. Bobby's mother actually came to the school insisting that I had said something I hadn't said. I showed Bobby's mother a letter Bobby had written me apologizing for his rude, disrespectful behavior in class and Bobby's mother looked embarrassed but started with a litany of excuses about why Bobby would make such comments. I also told his mother that once in class