I felt it coming. Just after the bell, Sleepy, one of my geometry students from last semester, was standing in the hall with four or five other boys, those 4 walked away all singing some song, in unison. That was the moment. I knew something was up. I looked to sleepy, who put one hand up in the air, waving it at them, using expletives and talking about gangs.
Crap.
The boys rushed at Sleepy as I yelled for them to cool it. White girl in her Jcrew sweater telling boys with gold grillz not to rush at each other for who knows what anger they've got. Not so effective.
I didn't want to insert myself, but somehow 5 boys turned to 15, and the mob moved towards me, all of the sudden, there I was right in the middle of it--not a good place when fists are flailing and blindly punching whatever is in front of them.
So then, like any smart not very large human who does not want a black eye, and who sees her favorite savior teacher running across the hallway, I ran. We called for help, I talked to one of my students who also accidentally got mixed up in it to make sure she was ok, and then savior teacher number 2 came down the hall. This woman does not play. She broke up what was left right away and worked to comfort whoever got hurt.
Yes, this is more interesting than my usual posts, and yes, teachers and students spent much of the rest of the day reliving what happened and, well, gossiping. I did it too, despite my better judgement.
What's sad here is that Sleepy will probably be kicked out of Whites Creek. Sleepy who told me he was 'The truth' in my class, who took his grillz out when he'd come to tutoring so he could be serious, and who passed my class because he studied and tried the best he could to get his grade up.
What happens to him now? He goes to an alternative school where he can hope to get some kind of degree, maybe. Is a degree from an alternative school as good as a degree from a normal one? Is the fact that he got in a fight at his normal high school forever on his record? I'm not really sure. But I have a feeling the fighting that started at 7:06 this morning didn't end at 7:10. I have a feeling it's going on right now, that his gang is retaliating, that they are rallying and that something will probably go on at school tomorrow. I have a feeling this won't be the last time Sleepy gets in a fight.
Often it's the good ones that end up getting kicked out for these fights. Often the ones that drive you crazy in class just keep driving you crazy.
This is the part of teaching that is heart-wrenching. This is one of those teachable moments they tell you about--I tried to talk to my advisees today about not fighting (because all they could do was talk about it). About being the bigger person and not stooping to the other person's level. About keeping your head down, doing well in school and rising above the fight. The message was lost on the students who needed to hear it most.
For my part, I feel a little tougher, initiated into what it's like to break up a fight (or umm, call someone else to do it), and energized to keep trying to teach them to be humans, not just mathematicians.
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