Epiphany in Baltimore

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004

Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com

So a young woman, badly failing so far, came in with her mother and father and little sister today after school. Out of our seven homework assignments, she's done one of them, and she's getting a 28%. From the conversation, it seemed pretty clear to me that she just doesn't like me. She's doing her work for her other classes, but not for mine. Every time her mother asked her why it was this class, she just said I don't know with a piss poor attitude about it. Her mom called her on it, but I worried a bit that my quest to be not smile for the first part of the year had worked too well.

While we were chatting, though, I had no less than three girls and one boy come in and interrupt the meeting. Two just to say hi from the hallway, loudly and nicely, and two to get quick things from me. All spoke to me with energy and, it seemed to me, genuine affection, prompting the father to tell the girl, "You can see that the students like this man. He seems like a nice teacher." He didn't have to finish off the, "so why don't you do anything for him?"

This was good. If I'm on my A game, kids are partly doing their work because they do not disappoint me. Of course, you hope for the intrinsic motivation, but, let's be real, that doesn't always happen. So, we make do. I'm nice and the kids work hard for me. Hopefully I can stay that way.
I have not gotten to know my students too well yet. Seeing them only every other day, I've only seen them 8 or 9 times so far. But here are the memorable ones so far:

ZW: Brilliant kid, may very well be the valedictorian of his class in four years. Reads things more critically than almost any student I've ever had. Can spout off things that make me think about the text differently. Today, I called him by his formal name (Zachary) instead of his informal name (Zack), and he corrected me. I liked that.

CB: Ultra quiet girl, but when she got into the six-person discussion, she said this line about her feelings about Grant and faith in A Lesson Before Dying: "I hear and understand what you are saying, but I still stand strong by my statement." I love it.

JS: A Junior. His 10th grade teacher told me he was quiet, but creative. He's written me two things so far - a personal essay and a short story. The personal essay spoke about his constant use of marijuana that changed when he saw his little brother looking up to him. It was very well written and I was suprised that he would share so much, so early. The short story was about a kid whose father died at the age of 31 from AIDS, a month after the diagnosis. The kid in the story (first person narrator) never knew his father, and hated him for abandoning his mother. And, the narrator had a marijuana problem, smoking every day from the end of the ninth grade on until he realized that it was too much. Gee, you think the short story could be based in truth? In class, he's so quiet that he barely registers amongst the loudmouths there - except for his big, sad eyes that juxtapose with the big tattoo on his right arm. Smart kid, a little screwed up - I'll get to know him well soon.

RD: The kid I've felt closest to in my teaching career. We've done the camping trips together. He has my cell phone number and calls every now and then. He's seemed really weird this year, almost depressed, and says vague things like, "My life is messed up." I'm not sure what to do. I told him today that he's reminding me of how he was at the end of 9th grade - non-responsive, enigmatic, disconcerting. He told me he has a bad year every other year, it seems, because last year was a good one. I tell him that it's like that for me, but it's every five years for me. I tell him that he needs five days in the woods, where we'll be headed on Nov. 9-13. He laughs and agrees. I tell him that his next bad year shouldn't be unti his freshmen year of college. He doesn't want to go to college, he wants to join the military. Even now, I ask, in the middle of a war? "I don't care if I die." He's a concern right now, and I really wish we had a functioning guidance department or that he'd open up a bit more to me so I can help him.

MH: One of the kindest, sweetest students I've ever had. I was surprised when I scored her essay that she couldn't write a lick, but she is respectful to the nth degree, and, in that class, it's a blessing.
DD: This kid's last name is also the last name of a certain famous comedian who got no respect and is currently in a coma. That, right away, makes him memorable. So far, in class, he's been funny and intelligent, and that's a good thing.

CN: Very serious white girl who is 15 going on 47. I like her a lot; she can read and argue about a book for hours if I let her. Her writing isn't quite as brilliant as her speaking so far, but she's going to go far.
SS: Giggly, annoying girl who is the stereotypical 9th grade mall girl. Talks and laughs way too much. I think she will be a grade grubber, too. She's friendly, though.

LK: Got her braces off today and we shared braces-off stories. Whip smart girl who on day one, tells me, "I tried very hard to read Go Tell It on a Mountain, but it was way too religious and I'm not religious at all, so I couldn't." I told her basically that I don't care that she's not religious, that the book's not that religious, anyway, and that she needs to do it anyway. She did. Today she said something very subtle and impressive about the MLK essay "Three Ways of Responding to Oppression," saying that Grant's refusal to use incorrect grammar was a form of non-violent resisitance.

AS: Jewish kid with a brain on him. I can tell he really wants my approval, could tell it on day one when I had to move him because of chattiness. He hasn't spoken out of turn since. His voice is cracking in a way more awkward than perhaps I've ever heard in a 14-year old, and I feel bad for him, but none of the kids seem to notice. He's smart - uses words like "depict" and "aura" in everyday conversation - and is going to try out for the baseball team, but because he's not yet five feet tall, I'm dubious to his prospects to make varsity this year. I like this kid a lot, though, so that will help him.

UN: I had her big sister last year. She's one of 11. Very African sounding name that it took forever for me to learn, but now she doesn't laugh when I say it, so I guess I'm saying it alright. Smart girl so far, although I'm afraid she might have some of the laziness that he big sister had. We'll see.