Direct Quotes from 3rd Period

The assignment? Working as a group of 4, read a paragraph of information about the Islamic Empire in one of four different areas (Spain, Turkey, West Africa or India) and fill in a chart. The twist? The answers didn't leap off the page and slap them across the face.

This is what I heard:

Kid - "I don't understand this reading"
Me - "It has literally been 30 seconds since you got the assignment, so I know you haven't actually read it."
Kid - "Well, I don't get it."
Me - "What exactly do you not understand?"
Kid - "All of it"
Me - "I don't know how to address that issue. I explained the assignment, the questions, and the instructions, so I don't know how to help you until you tell me what you don't understand."
Kid - "Where do I find the answers?"
Me - "In the reading."
Kid - "Where?"
Me - "In the reading"
Kid - "But where in the reading?"
Me - silence, then after a moment in which I have been counting to ten and praying for patience....."In. The. Reading. Go talk to your group and figure it out."
Kid goes back to her group and says, "She won't help me! I guess I'm just going to fail!"

A few minutes later.....

A different kid:
Kid - "This doesn't make sense because you cut the paragraphs apart. Can we have one that isn't cut apart?"
Me - "no, you can figure it out if you talk to the other people in your group."
Kid - "Can we have one that isn't cut apart?"
Me - looking at him slightly askance, wondering if he has a previously unnoticed hearing problem..."No."
Kid - "Can we have one that isn't cut apart?"
Me - seriously annoyed at this point...."No"
Kid - "Can we have one that isn't cut apart?" (you think I am making this up, sadly, I'm not)
Me - "No. Go back to your seat."

Ten minutes later....
(Different) kid, after the third day in a row of behaving like a 3rd grader (complaining, whining, hitting another student (flirting), tripping the same other student, talking constantly, trying to use her phone during class, etc), said "shut up" to another student on the other side of the classroom, who said "shut up" back to her louder. I lost it, told them both to knock it off, and they were both dangerously close to being referred for bullying. Female kid pouted for a couple of minutes, then asked to use the bathroom.
I asked if she had a pass (they get two per quarter)
she said no, so I said no.
She then asked to blow her nose.
Um, I'm not as dumb as I look, so NO.
She asked to get a drink.
I looked at her, shook my head, and said, "seriously?"
She asked to go to the office.
I said no.
She asked again, so I called the principal and asked if it was ok to send her down.
Principal said yes, so I wrote her a pass and she left, still pouting.

2 minutes later, the OTHER kid involved in the above incident comes up to my desk. Talking on top of the other kid standing there asking me a legitimate question about the assignment, he said
"Why did you talk to my coach yesterday? You know I am not the only one that talks in class and you told him that I was the only one talking!"
(side bar here....I talked to the basketball coach about two of the kids in that class yesterday. One of them cleaned up his act today and did great, this one of course denied that anything was his fault and thought I was picking on him...)
I looked at him with the you-are-approaching-the-precipice look and said
"that is not what I told your coach."
He continued to rant, I continued to restate the same phrase, until he finally went away.

5 minutes later, he gets called down to the office by the same principal, and I am left frazzled, annoyed, and on the verge of tears from sheer frustration. Of course, none of those parents have emails, so I have to actually call them, which in my case is not a good thing. I am much better on email than in person, as I have time to think about what I am saying and reword things repeatedly to get them right.

This third period class is obnoxious, rude, disrespectful, and annoying and on top of all that, they act like bullies sometimes. Sigh. Thank God, my afternoon classes are wonderful, so I end the day on a positive note every day. Otherwise, this year would be close to unbearable.

Oh and PS...we got new phones two days ago that are run through the computers (Why? I have no idea...I guess if the system crashes they want us all to be completely marooned). When I got to school yesterday, the right button on my mouse no longer worked. The only thing that had changed was the phone. Isn't it great when technology makes your life easier?