Busy few days

Wednesday I broke up my first fight. I think I took more punches than either of the boys who were fighting since I got in the middle of them pretty quickly, but it was still fun. I was disappointed because the aggressor is a really smart kid who can be extremely polite and respectful. However, he tends to be quite unruly when he's with people his own age. He wrote me a very nice note Wednesday at the end of the school day. He was suspended for the day Thursday.

Thursday I got a really nice note from a girl in my class. She apologized for "getting on my nervous." I don't really know why she wrote it because I hadn't even really gotten on to her that day. She hasn't really changed her behavior too much...but she's not terrible, so I'll let it ride.

I tried the no joking, no smiling, no laughing tactic with my classes last week. It was successful (I think I only laughed/smiled twice all week). After school last Monday, they said the only thing different was that I was wearing glasses. However, I think they picked up on a change because my 7th grade actually was extremely well-behaved all-around (until Friday, obviously, since Friday's definition in my school's dictionary is "day for nothing short of chaotic behavior") all week. I am taking credit for the following conversation I had with the English teacher. We both take our homerooms to lunch at the same time, so we were chatting, and she said, "The 7th grade has been very focused and well-behaved this week for me. Today they begged me to tell you how good they've been." That was Thursday...Friday was a turn for the worse.

I had a pretty stern talk with the mom of one of my students on Friday. I told her he needed to turn himself around or we'd have to have a conference this week. Based on last period, I think we're heading for a conference.