with a shorter past

So I finish my first week as a teacher. After a so-so Tuesday and a near-disasterous Wednesday (short verson: the class grew from 9 to 29 students because another, non-TFA, teacher decided not to come to work ever again), things picked up at the end of the week.

A few members of the cast:

S: By far the best student in the class. She wrote her personal paragraph about how much she and her cousins like to beat up random people. Why? "I don't know."

C: Works hard, has a great attitude and turns everything in on time. To top it, a reasonable percentage of it is correct. Lord only knows why he's in summer school, but I suspect it has something to do with what he wrote in his paragraph: both his father and brother are dead. His neighborhood ain't exactly in the touristy section of town, so draw your own conclusions.

I: Told me to fuck off on Thursday, but I got an apology out of him and let him back in the class. At the end of Friday's class, he went to another room and called my classroom. "It's just a joke Mister B," he said. Oh yes, he gave an impromptu recitation of 20 sentences using the adverb "badly" for a game we played in class. He'll be a fun one.

J: I misprounounced his name for all of Wednesday's class. According to his paragraph, he expects to attend college. During down time at the end of Friday's class, he asked if I ever smoked any "blacks," "whites," or "greens." I think the last term refers to marijuana, but I've got no clue what the first two mean. I've got to get up on my inner-city slang.

According to my counselor-type person here in TFA-land, I've got one of the better classes.

I agree. They're supposed to be the worst of the worst, but there's potential in these kids.

I just hope I can do something for them.