Basile Beaty’s blog

Two entries, both worth double the normal points (i.e., take particular time with these two assignments), due 8:00 AM on Friday, June 26th.  Email me the links to receive credit.  If, for any reason, I feel you have not put forth time and/or effort in the blog entries you will receive a zero.

1) Failure story.  Describe, in detail, an event, student, experience, etc. during the year where you failed.

My failure was Kiwanis Bobo.  Kiwanis, or Little Joe, was in my homeroom and in my first and second period English II class.  Homeroom at North Panola almost never meets, but you do get to see all their grades.  Lil Joe is an all-star basketball player as well as an outstanding wide receiver. 

I remember on my first day that he was the only student who managed to speak out of turn or was in any way a hassle to deal with.  He was taller than most of the other students and louder.  It took me a long time to realize that Lil Joe meant absolutely no harm.  At first I thought that he was dangerous, that he would fight other kids.  Then I realized that he didn’t dislike anyone.  He almost never actually did any work, he would come to class about fifteen minutes before the first period was over.  I always asked him if he was ready to do some work today and depending on his mood I always received a variety of answers.  None of the answers was ever an affirmation.  I talked to his mother almost daily on the phone for about a month, I talked to his older sister, and I would call him to remind him of various assignments on his cell phone. 

At this point I had gone around to his other teachers to find out if this was something I was doing or whether it was systemic.  It turned out that he did no work in anyone’s classroom.  A bunch of us got together and got on his case enough that he worked for about half of one of the quarters.  The first semester had already gone by and Lil Joe had failed Biology, English II, and Algebra I.  We tried to get him back on track by talking to his coaches, I was actually his track coach.  I got him to pass the fourth quarter, but it was impossible at that point for him to pass the class.  He ended up failing five of his seven classes.  I remember at the athletic banquet that Joe’s basketball coach had said that Joe would definitely go places if he could start doing some work in his classes.  Unfortunately, that was already fourth quarter. 

I feel as though there was not a great deal more that I could have done for Joe, but his failure is inexorably linked to mine.  He has no father, and his mother has to work constantly to actually keep him and his sisters fed.  It would fall to his teachers, the people he says during the day, and his coaches to provide a model that he would want to emulate. 

I mostly feel as though that was a failure because Lil Joe was smart.  He could do all the work that was assigned and he could have done it well.  It was my fault that I couldn’t find things that would interest him, or that I couldn’t appeal to some part of him to help himself to keep the proper academic mentality.  I also feel as though I failed because I was clearly unable to make him understand that a failure in this class would result in his inability to play football or basketball or track next year.  He just wouldn’t understand that there were consequences to his lack of appropriate action. 

2) Success Story.  Describe, in detail, a success story from your first year of teaching.

            Success stories are a little harder to come up with.  I feel like I succeeded by completing a full year of teaching.  I feel as though I grew personally and I feel as though my teaching style and aptitude grew a great deal as well.

            My fifth and sixth period class hated me and I hated them at the beginning of the year.  We had 110 minutes together everyday and we all hated each other.  A lot of that had to do with the fact that I had a lot of older kids who had already failed English II at least once.  Some of it had to do with the fact that they were all friends and they all stuck up for each other.  They were also the least likely to listen to my rules and follow them.  Most of our issues started with the lunch room.  I was a stickler about them being in line at all times and I was probably a little too anal about it.  They would already have gotten mad at me and I would already be fed up with them by the time we got back from lunch and started class.  By the end of the year these kids loved me, and I loved them.  Three, one set of twins, had already gone to alternative school.  Two of the other misbehaving girls had gotten pregnant and were remarkably docile.  I also realized that a lot of the issues that I was having were a result of my own issues and my inability to adapt to that class.  I fixed things and they fixed things and by the end of the year they hung on my every word.  They tried to make me happy.  I had a great time with them, especially as the year drew to a close.  I will probably remember that class as being one of my favorites from last year. 

            The twins that were in this class were a fairly consistent point of reference on my blog.  They created a ton of problems for the school.  The only reason that they weren’t thrown out was that their was also an abusive situation occurring at their household and the courts were involved and it was difficult to move them into ALS.  Eventually, I was able to get them under control, but they got in some fights before school and as a result were kicked out. 

            My JROTC girls as I called them were also another serious issue in that class.  There were three of them, two who were older and had already taken the class.  The one younger one just had a serious mouth on her and she was getting written up by just about everyone.  The two older ones were pregnant by the end of the year, which resulted in a lot of vomiting in my classroom, as we met directly after lunch.  However, they became remarkably more docile upon their impregnation.  The younger one ended up warming up to me and would come hang out in my classroom when she was skipping other classes.