Karell sat in the far right corner of the front row during my first day of Algebra I. For the first hour of class he was relatively quiet, attentive, and seemed genuinely interested in doing his work.
Jenny (another teachNOLA fellow) and I sat in the back of the room – charged with the responsibility of simply observing for the first week. We’ve been told that classroom order is established in the first week of class; if the teacher doesn’t gain control in that week, then they will, most likely, not gain it that year. After observing Karell and his classmates, it is my opinion that you do not have a week - you have exactly an hour – that’s it.
Ms. H (we’ll call my lead teacher) started the lesson with confidence and ease – she established three classroom rules:
- Don’t talk while I’m talking
- No foul language
- No cell phones or Ipods
She presented a 20-minute lesson and then assigned a worksheet for students to complete – allowing them another 20 minutes. I was initially impressed with students’ attention to the subject and their willingness to participate. Ms. H calmly walked up and down the rows answering questions. She would address exposed cell phones by wagging her index finger back and forth and saying “Not allowed – put it away.” She acknowledged the occasional inappropriate word by looking up, finding the source, and, again, wagging the finger, while saying “language.” I wondered for a moment if teaching high school was easier than I anticipated.
Karell needed help with the worksheet and asked for it – after receiving some instruction, he returned to work. But quickly had another question. Jenny and I wanted to help but were advised, again, not to on the first day. Karell began to disrupt a student in the back of the room by saying – “We didn’t learn this at my school. I’m just stupid anyway.” They went back to work for a couple more minutes, but were not as attentive and Karell sat staring into space for long periods of time. He raised his hand repeatedly, but received little attention from Ms. H.
After many students completed the worksheet, Ms. H returned to the board to review the answers. By then, some of the students had clearly lost interest and started talking. Ms. H whipped around and said, “Shuuuuuuuushhhh!” and went back to the board.
We were in class for only an hour and a half that first day - the class is scheduled to last three and a half hours…. By the end of the class, Karell was rapping and his classmate was keeping the beat on his desk. He called Ms. H every name in the book and Ms. H would use either “Language!” “Karell!” or “Shush!” Never actually addressing the misbehavior. The classroom volume was agonizing by the time the lunch bell rang and students fled from the room. Ms. H was amazingly unaffected by it all and described the day as, “Not that bad.”
Day 2 – Karell came in red-eyed and obviously stoned. He slept for the first two hours of class, as did 7 other students. She did not wake them and seemed to enjoy the reprieve. The others worked quietly and accomplished a lot in the beginning. Karell began to stir at about 10:00am and immediately asked to go to the bathroom – he was gone for half an hour. He returned full force – singing, yelling, throwing out insults to Ms. H., standing up - walking around, involving other students.
Close to the end of the day, Ms. H strolled by my chair and whispered. “Karell is out.”
“Do you mean for the day?” I asked. To which she replied, “No, I’m having him removed. It’s summer – they only get one chance.”
Day 3 – Karell came by class and dropped off his book – left the classroom for about a half hour and then strolled back into class smiling while Ms. H was at the board. She turned to him and pointed to the door, “Get your things and leave.”
Over the next hour, Karell hung around outside of the door – he kept looking in – not smiling or joking – just looking in – like he was confused or lost. Ms. H walked to my chair and said she needed a favor, “ I need you to get security and have Karell removed from the grounds. He is disturbing my class.”
Because I’m learning and Karell is not my student, I had to comply. I was the one who talked with the principal – and watched as security chased him as he ran down the hall – he kept looking at me and I felt like I had failed him. I asked the security officer to work out another solution – told him that Karell just needed help – a second chance. He told me there are no second chances in summer school.
I wonder if there are second chances at all for kids like Karell.
I wonder if he has ever even been given a first chance.
