It’s third period — my first academic period this year, as my  two planning periods are at the start of the day. (Why? Not so important, but it’s a nice schedule: I have plenty of time to get ready for classes, then the classes themselves just fly by. Suddenly I hear the afternoon announcements and think, “Already?!”) The first student comes in well before any other student.

“Whew! I missed the hall-pocalypse!”

Clever kid, that boy. Makes me laugh quite often.

Fourth period. Kids are starting The Diary of Anne Frank. I have them exploring the Anne Frank museum’s interactive tour of the Secret Annex. Kids who might otherwise be distracted and distracting are silent, looking at the last place Anne Frank was physically free.

Fifth period — also Anne Frank, but a little ahead of the other class. They’re acting out the first scene in preparation for mini-projects that involve staging select scenes from the play. A student who can be disruptive and disrespectful turns out to be a masterful actor.

Sixth and seventh periods — English I Honors. We’re finishing up a unit on poetry, looking at Shakespeare’s sonnets in preparation for the upcoming unit on Romeo and Juliet. I have them look at sonnet 130:

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

We go over unknown vocabulary.

“What is ‘dun’?”

“What does it sound like?”

“Dung.”

I raise my eyebrows.

“He’s comparing to his mistress to poop?!”

The school day’s over then, but not really — there’s always hall monitoring to get through as the kids head home. Ten minutes after the first students are dismissed, I see her. She stops dead in her stride and half glares at me.

“Why did you write that on my report card?” She pulls it out to show me, but I know what I wrote. She was one of several students for whom I left extensive comments in the grading system, comments that get included on the report card.

The comment was an honest assessment of how this young lady has been doing in my class. I pointed out that she has “demonstrated some very disruptive behavior this quarter” but that recently has shown improvement. I explained that she needs to improve her ability to “reply disrespectfully to teacher redirection” and mentioned her “problems staying focused and refraining from disruptive side-conversations.”

“Why’d you write that?”

“Because I need your folks to know what’s going on in the classroom. I haven’t been able to get in touch with them.”

“But now I’m gonna get cussed out!”

And suddenly everything becomes a little clearer.