Callin' the 'Rents

This post isn't one directly related to homophobia in public schools, but it does concern the student I talked about in yesterday's post (Bob).

Today, the students took a test on everything we've been covering in the past week.  Before I distributed the tests, I went over the review guide that was given to them on Monday to clear up any confusion.  The entire time I was trying to review with the class, Bob was over in his corner causing a disturbance.  Now, Bob went halfway through this course before, but was kicked out of school for a behavior problem for the remainder of that semester.  He should know this stuff, so I let that slide, thinking that Bob was just extra talkative today.

Bob doesn't sit in a traditional desk like the rest of the class: he sits in one of the corners, where there is a table with a roller chair.  He decided to roll over to my desk to take the test, which I was fine with.  I looked over at his test and, after answering nine out of the fifty questions, he started writing down random answers.  He then threw his test at me and said, "I'm tired of this crap.  I'm just going to do test corrections," thinking that he would gain half the credit of each unanswered question back.  I told him that would definitely not happen.

Once the students finished their tests, they were to start on an introductory assignment for the next section.  I waited a bit for Bob to cool off, then asked him to start on that so he wouldn't be just sitting there.  He waited ten minutes, then grabbed the assignment.  I left him alone until the end of class.

When the bell was about to ring, I called him over to my desk and asked what the random mood swing was about.  He responded by saying, "What?  Me being a dick?"  I disregarded his use of inappropriate language and reminded him that if he couldn't be respectful or do what was asked of him, then he would have to leave the class.  He didn't say a word in response.

Once the students left, I was highly annoyed with the way Bob had behaved... so much that I called his parents!  And here is the moral of the story: if you have a little shit (little brat, little devil, little _____) with an attitude in your class, call the parents.  This one offered so much support that she said she was going to "whoop his ass back in line."  Oh, the joys of teaching in rural NC...