the response

today one of my students did the following... thew his pen on top of my prep room so that he could go get it. no, I did not let him get it. threw a lug nut at a fellow student which almost broke some glassware. stole my plants off my desk. and then, the crowning achievement, laid a pencil on top of my lit candle, which promptly caught fire.

I made him leave the room, and after class I had him call his mother to tell her what he did. Then I said it was either detention or cleaning. most likely cleaning.

He stopped in later and dropped off the following note, written in barely ledgible chicken scratch:

Ms Samuels,
I'm sorry for acting like an idiot in your class. I know I can't always control myself, but I'm trying to work on it. Also, not all the time, but sometimes stuff is instigated, and I get angry and lash back, which is what happened with the bolt. The pencil/candle incident was just me not paying attention. It was actually an accident, I didn't really mean to put the end of the pencil in the candle.

So, I just wanted to say I'm sorry and that I will try not to let it happen again

~Colin

P.S. Your room does need cleaning... and what is better than free labor?




The funniest thing is that I read this and thought wow, im really going to miss teaching. Colin actually doesnt make me angry, it made me laugh, and I wasnt worried about things going up in flames. But yeah, I just thought it was amusing and that I would share. Silly people.