“Naomi says Mrs. Jacobs swore at her.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Well, I have a hard time believing it too, but Naomi’s
dad was in my office for 45 minutes this morning telling me how uncomfortable Naomi
feels with Mrs. Jacobs.”
I stared back at the principal and felt an angry burn
starting in my stomach. That little stinker! She got to her dad first.
Yesterday as my new para Mrs. Jacobs was leaving, she
paused at the door. “I need to talk to
you about Naomi,” she said. “I was
helping her find a book in the library today, and after she checked her book
out, she asked if she could go on a computer.
I told her she could, but she could only look at the approved sites from
her teacher’s web page.”
“What happened,” I asked, already suspecting what was
coming.
“Well, I turned away from her for just a few minutes, and
when I looked back, she was playing a video game. I told her the game sites weren’t allowed and
she had to get off the computer.”
“That’s pretty typical of Naomi,” I reassured her. “I don’t let her near a computer in here
unless I’m able to sit right next to her.”
“Well, when I told her to get off the computer, she called
me a . . .” Mrs. Jacobs hesitated and
then spelled a not very nice word. “Then
she said I couldn’t boss her around, that I wasn’t a real teacher.”
I felt bad for Mrs. Jacobs. She is a 26 year old mom with two little
kids, and she needs this job. She is really
good and is learning things very quickly.
The challenge from Naomi was typical but the language was over the
line. I wish I’d known about it earlier
so I could have dealt with Naomi immediately.
Speaking like that to anyone was an office referral. “What did you say back to her?” I asked.
“Well, I told her even though I wasn’t a teacher, I was
an adult in the building, and she needed to follow my directions. I also told her she wasn’t allowed to speak
that way here. She just rolled her eyes
at me and walked away saying something I couldn’t hear. I didn’t know what to do, so I just kept my
eye on her the rest of the period.”
Naomi’s behavior was a classic challenge to a new
authority figure. “You were right to
make her get off the computer,” I reassured her. “I’ll take care of this tomorrow. Don’t worry. You did the right thing. Unfortunately, your honeymoon is over, and
you’re going to be challenged by some of the kids.”
The next morning students were waiting for me when I got
to school, and I forgot to go to the office.
Naomi was going all out against Mrs. Jacobs. She had gone home and complained to her dad,
and he had come in first thing this morning complaining about Mrs. Jacobs.
“Naomi was the one who was swearing, not Mrs. Jacobs,” I
explained to the principal.
“Why didn’t she refer Naomi to the office?”
“Naomi caught her off guard. She didn’t know what to do. I only found out about it last night on my
way out the door. I just haven’t had
time to see you about it.”
“OK,” the principal sighed. “I’ll talk to Mrs. Jacobs and then talk to Naomi,
and call her dad back. This is always so
much harder when the kids go home and give their version first.”
As the principal walked away I stood at my classroom door
doing a slow burn. I thought I had a pretty
good relationship with Naomi and her parents.
But now . . . not so sure.
The bell rang and the hall filled with kids. Naomi strolled by with a couple of her
friends. I found myself just staring at
her. As she walked past me, she noticed
I was watching her.
“What?” she said with an exaggerated wide-eyed innocence. I could see a tiny smile pulling at the
corners of her mouth.
I pointed to my eyes with two fingers, turned my hand
around, and pointed one finger at her. The
miniscule smile vanished from her face, as she quickly turned her head away and
accelerated down the hall. I was pretty
sure her head was ducking down just a little lower as she walked around the
corner.
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