"Remember Me? You Kicked Me Out!" The Freshmen

The freshmen classes could be really bad.

Some of them felt entitled to interrupt me as often as they pleased. They were barely literate, on certain occasions, yet they felt entitled to correct me openly in front of everyone.

I put to silence the honor's class. The regular classes, however, were just plain awful.

One afternoon, another Friday and sixth period, the students were in high gear to raise all kinds of nonsense and noisome pestilence. I could not believe that students could be so rude, that I could not even take role. If a class was so disruptive that I could not even read the roster to take roll, I would start sending out students right away. This one freshman class, I sent out four students, standing outside or walking around little by little. It was crazy.

Security was very helpful. I have always prized the assistance of the men and women who pushed the kids to the wall when it was needed. At least two times, the site staff had no problem taking away two or three students. I still cannot believe how heedless and impudent some students were. I remember some of the girls would just wander around the room while I was talking. Two boys in the back of the room gave themselves permission to interrupt me as often as they felt inclined.

On one occasion, the secretary told me to cover a fourth period class over in the new buildings. From the notes that the teacher left, I could tell that the class was going to be quite unruly. With seconds, the bell rang and in poured a massive morass of students who from the moment they crossed the threshold of the classroom, they felt entitled to talk the whole time, not listening to at all.

The lesson plans were impossible to follow, but at least I got the impression that this class was the original teacher' worst, and I was the fourth teacher to cover classes in this room, since no one substitute had signed up to cover the class the entire day. I called security, they swept three students away immediately. "C'mon, you guys, snap out of it!" the security personnel told them, then he shuffled three students out of the room.

That was not enough, however, to get the class quiet. Eventually, I had to throw three more students out, kids who refused to be quiet no matter what I did. One of them was quite impertinent, shocked that I actually expected him to be quiet. I snapped at him to keep his mouth shut. "You think it's OK to talk to me like that?!!" he barked at me  imperiously -- I just sent him to sit outside with two other students.

I declared once and for all -- "I am your teacher today, and you will not treat me with such disrespect!" I did not care if they respected me or not. I did not care if they were willing to listen or not. I was going to have the last word with every student in the room, and if I had to throw out ten students, then I was going to do it.

I began moving students around the room, they sat wherever I told them to, whether they wanted to or not. I would not take no for an answer. I loved it! I was uninhibited, nothing was going to hold me back that day -- this experience was a 180 degree turn from Hawthorne, where I was under the most ridiculous, self-induced pressure to try to keep the students in the classroom. Now, it was "kill or be killed", and I was going to be the winner.

In fact, the class actually got very quiet, for the first time in a long time, I am sure. I did not care if a line of administrators tried to cow me down or threatened to make me leave. I was standing on the new principle, the fact of life  much needed yet sorely lacking in classrooms across the city -- the teacher must win, or everyone loses. The students do not get to have the last word, especially if their demonstrating a demeaning demeanor toward the teacher.

I do not think that the students got any work down, but the period ended quieter than it had begun. Three students were spirited away by staff, and three more I had parked outside on one of the nearby benches. I checked on them once or twice, the second time telling them to sit. When I yelled across the square outside of the classroom, I did not care if the whole school heard me not. "I am going to count to three, and  you better sit down!" One of the students mocked me as  I put out my hand and started counting, but he did sit down.

I am king of the mountain today! I told myself. Exhausted when the bell rang for lunch, I decided to take a break in that classroom, but I made it back to my original assignment just in time to run into another sub, an older man, red-haired and congenial, who was covering a history class for a teacher who had decided not to renew her credential. I was really pumped, taking down the class of freshmen like a wild animal. "I just turned up a class of Freshmen!" I shouted, throwing my arms up in victory. One off the seniors walking by gave me the funniest look,  but I did not care. I had held onto my respect and my authority, and no one got away with anything under my watch!