Thursday, October 04, 2007

Day 24

Montrise is a squirrel. He is constantly out of his chair, annoying other students, dancing, grabbing tit. He has pocketsful of sunflower seeds, which he chews and spits. Sometimes we find little stashed piles of seeds in book bins or desk drawers. Montrice is preparing to hibernate.

He's such a problem that Lukie called his house to ask for a parent conference after I taught one day and Lukie counted 30 major behavioral infractions by Montrise in ten minutes' time.

"Montrise is in trouble," she said to his grandmother on the phone. "I need a parent or somebody to come in here and help me get him under control. Right now he is supposed to be in math class and he is rolling around on the floor in the hallway. I think he is going to fail."

Montrice's grandmother asked Lukie to put him on the phone. "Nuh-uh Nana, they lyin' on me! I'm in class right now. I'm doin' my math work right now!" He gave the phone back to Lukie and began barking before switching to cat noises.

Yesterday Montrise threw a pencil into the ceiling, then denied it. His classmates ratted him out, and he still denied it. I told him I saw him do it, and he said I was "lyin' on" him. This child needs special education assistance, but his mother refuses to have him evaluated. Today I worked with him one-on-one, and so long as I was sitting there helping him and giving him feedback he was fine. If I moved to assist another student, Montrice would immediately be at the window, throwing rulers out or trying to catch falling leaves.

He sits next to Nat Turner. Nat is a quiet kid who looks like he can handle his business. Nat told Montrice today "Boy you is crazy. I think you need a beat-down." Montrice called Nat a muthafucka and said he would see him outside after school. Nat Turner is going to turn Montrice inside-out.

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