Ups and Downs at SOAR

I just completed four of the five weeks I agreed to spend as the teacher at SOAR, TSC's school for middle schoolers who have been expelled from their regular classrooms. Things are improving with the kids; I think it has been almost two weeks since I heard the f-word or was called a b----.  That's progress, for sure!

I have worked really hard to connect with the kids - I could tell from the very beginning that my contribution to their lives would not be an academic one, it would be more on the level of helping them see that there are adults who like them, who care about their welfare, and are doing their best to help them achieve. (We have gotten some academics done, too.)

I started trying to make those connections immediately. Knowing that I had just taken on a difficult teaching assignment, Kathy Nimmer offered to come for a visit with the duo purpose of getting to know the middle school and high school programs. They are under her jurisdiction as she is TSC's mentor of new faculty, and she had never visited the program before.

I was not sure what to expect as it was only my second week in the classroom, but the morning class was riveted for an hour and a half! And afterward Alexia asked me for more information about guide dogs and their training!

Another way I made connections with the kids was to invite a girl to bring in her beloved guinea pigs.

 This is Salt who enjoyed hanging out on the kids' desks.

 Ginger was a cuddler and would lie on his back in your arms and go to sleep.

KR, a student who I had known (and bumped heads with) at Hershey has a very hot temper and is very mouthy. He surprised me by making me a picture of a seal to hang on the wall by my desk.

I don't think that these kids have gotten many compliments in their lives from teachers. It almost made me cry when I saw that JB had pinned a post-it note from me up on his work station.

Two kids have been expelled - MW (an 8th grader who has had three expulsions already and had been out for a few days and in a residential facility for attempted suicide ) was expelled for showing a sex video on her phone during class. That same day I also caught her cheating by looking up answer keys online. When I called her grandmother and asked her to come pick up MW, she came in with her belt drawn! She stalked into the room saying, "You're getting a whipping, either here or at home. I'm going to go to jail for it, but you're getting it! An extended yelling match between the two ensued. Needless to say, I cleared the class and with the help of two other adults in the building, finally got things settled down. I called Child Protection Services right away.

Then, JG, a sixth grader with a white hot temper (a characteristic of almost all these kids) became angry with me because I insisted he do his work instead of playing games on the computer. He followed the pattern of defiance, disrespect, and arguing that I had seen from him over the past week but this time it escalated well beyond those incidents. I finally told him that enough was enough and that he needed to stop the disrespect NOW. He did not stop, and so he was expelled.

I lost another student, but not to expulsion. NM was a 7th grader who had serious emotional issues and a lot of anger. One day he became so upset about having to do schoolwork that he made the comment that he was worthless and going to take his pink pen and kill himself. He ended up being admitted to a residential center for counseling and treatment.

Ten students of the original thirteen are still hanging in there and I am hopeful that all will make it through to the end and be able to return to their home schools next August. As for me, I have been asked to come out of retirement permanently and teach this class full time, but I have declined. The emotional drain on me has been tremendous, and I have lost sleep over these kids, worrying about them and how to reach them.

One more week to go. I hope that we ALL make it through!