AW

I’ve written hundreds of behavior referrals for students, mostly when I’ve had to kick them out of my classroom. For my first two years, when I taught at a middle school, students who were sent out of class went to our in-school suspension room, strangely known as the Opportunity Room, or OP room. Students were almost always held there for the remainder of the period, then sent on to their next class, and expected to return to my class the next day—with no real consequences. Here are the referrals I wrote for one student who we’ll call AW:

8/25/10 AW has been very disruptive in class every day, talking while I’m trying to teach, and distracting the students around him. I called both of the numbers listed but got no answer.

8/27/10 AW has continued to be extremely disruptive, including talking, yelling, getting out of his seat, and shooting rubber bands. Also, he kept refusing to get in line at the end of recess, and kept running around chasing other students. I called home and talked with AW and his mother on speaker phone. She was supportive, and told me to never hesitate to call her.

8/30/10 AW repeatedly threw things at other students, hit one female student on the head with a folder, yelled, and kept getting out of his seat. He yelled that another student “smelled like horse nuts!” I sent him to Ms. X’s room for a time out. She sent him to Ms. Y’s room. Mr. Z then caught AW goofing off, and running into the bathroom, and returned him to me. I then sent him to Ms. Y’s room, where he finally arrived. I’m making another call home.

8/31/10 AW kept throwing things, getting out of his seat, and touching other students. I talked to his mother again.

9/1/10 AW kept shouting and getting out of his seat. I had to tell him to sit down a total of 13 times.

9/2/10 AW’s mom came in to class to check in on him and his behavior.

9/3/10 AW kept talking out and yelling, he threw paper balls at another student who was trying to do her work, he put his desk up on top of the back of the desk in front of him, and I had to tell him to sit down 7 times. I sent him to the OP room, and he yelled and argued with me before going.

9/7/10 AW continues to have constant behavior problems. Today I had to tell him to line up after recess 5 times, and to sit down in class 4 times. He also kept talking and shouting out in class.

9/9/10 AW repeatedly took another student’s belongings off of her desk. Twice he lifted his desk up on top of the back of the desk of the student in front of him. He kept getting out of his seat, and talking. And he yelled something about “X’s pussy.” I eventually had to send him to the OP Room. I called and talked to his mother again.

9/13/10 AW was throwing paper balls. Something was said about a female student sticking her finger down her throat, and AW said to her, “I’ll stick something down your throat that ain’t a finger!”

9/14/10 AW kept getting out of his seat before lunch. Then as we were in line coming back to class from recess, he ran up the line slapping people’s heads. When we got back to the classroom he ran around there. He shot rubber bands, and I took one away from him. He slapped a student in the head. I finally had to send him out of class and to Ms. X. I spoke with his mother at the football game.

9/15/10 At the end of recess AW kept running around and refusing to line up. Then in class I saw him shoot paper with a rubber band, and he refused to give me the rubber band, and kept insisting that he hadn’t shot anything – even though I was looking directly at him when he did it. I sent him to Ms. X for a time-out, but again he did not arrive there.

9/16/10 AW kept getting out of line as I was lining my class up after recess. Inside as we filed into the classroom, AW ran past the room and down the hall. Then during class he kept talking out, and touched X. I sent him for a time-out. When he returned, he was using a rubber band to shoot paper.

9/17/10 I clearly saw AW grab X’s breast in the hallway. As we passed Assistant Principal Y’s office, I told her what had happened and she took AW. I asked X if she wanted to go talk with Assistant Principal Y, but she declined.