Day Is Done

And what a day it was!
I've been a teacher for 40 years, a mother for 30, and a grandmother for 6. There are things one gets instincts for in all of that experience. For instance, when you see a group of students forming a semi-circle in the hall with a couple of other students the focus of their attention, it doesn't take an IQ the temperature of cat urine to figure out that something is about to happen. Before school started this morning, I was standing in the hall by my room when I saw the scenario mentioned above and headed the 20 feet down the hall toward them in an effort to break up whatever it was, but I was too late. Just as I got there, a punch was thrown and the fight was on...between two of my young "ladies"! There were fists and kicks and hair pulling--a real all-out rumpus--with the boys just standing there letting it happen. I stuck my arm in between the two in an effort to separate them, but that wasn't working. In short order, one of the male staff members got there to help TRY to pull them apart, but they were so attached to each other that he was actually pulling on one girl, the other girl...and me! Finally, I looked at the big strapping boys standing there and said, "Could I get some help here???" Only then did it occur to any of them that they could be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. DUH!

By this time, there was enough of a commotion that other male teachers came running. One, the sub for the 7th grade English teacher, put one of the girls in a headlock...and that was the end of it. The teacher has a degree in criminal justice or law enforcement or something. He doesn't look like a brute, but he's in good shape and was an athlete when he was in high school. The middle school boys looked awe-struck when they saw him put the kabosh on the fight. (New respect for the sub, perhaps??) One of the boys said, "He can't grab her like that." The other boys (and teachers) let him know that the teacher could, indeed, do what he did in order to prevent further injury to the girls...and it worked! As he mentioned at lunch, he wasn't "squeezing"...so the girl wasn't hurt. Just immobilized. Thus started my day! I got a little bruise on my arm for my trouble, and the kids kidded me all day about being in the midst of the fray.

So...I learned something new. When boys fight, they usually respond to intervention. In effect, they WANT to be stopped from fighting. (I think the logic is, "I would have beat the tar out of the other guy, but the teachers got in the way.") Girls, however, are out for blood! It took 2-3 men and me just to get the girls pulled apart. That started the day. Things didn't go all that well thereafter. There was yet another tussle between a couple of boys. Welcome to my world! So...with three days left of school, we have multiple kids suspended, expelled, and in in-school suspension. Ugh!

Tonight was Ryan's last soccer game of the spring season. Grandpa Phil and Aunt Rhoda were there, so Ry kicked a couple of goals for the attention. He really is a pretty good player, but we adults are glad that the season is over. That frees up two evenings a week! Yay!