Is ANYONE Paying Attention?

That is the phrase of the week. I mentioned to you that I am back in the inner city this week. I am going CRAZY. It started with the first class of the day. Here is how it went...The class comes in they are running around, hitting each other, talking very loud, throwing stuff, etc... The bell rings. I begin to talk. A kid walks in late. I wait until they say all their hellos and finish with their disruption. Then two more kids come in late. This goes on for 10 minutes! The teacher doesn't say a word. No verbal warnings, No detentions, Nothing. I guess kids at this school don't have to follow the rules. So, everyone is finally in their seats. Two boys are discussing the latests shoes in the Eastbay catalog. I ask him to put it away. He says, "No I am just looking." I tell him it isn't a choice, he needs to pay attention, if he doesn't put it away I will take it from him." He refuses so I take it from him. He freaks out. I thought he was going to punch me. He was thinking about it. He runs his mouth for a moment or two then realizes his friends think he is being a jerk so he settles down. Today we were talking about Parenting. We talk about what it takes to be a parent. I put a video in and they actually did a great job paying attention. After the movie, I say, "So, what did you think?" This kid says, "I think it was SHI*". In front of the teacher and everyone else. No punishment. So that class leaves and in comes my sixth graders. They are louder than the others (and wilder). Ten minutes after the bell rings and a HUGE lecture about respect and acting your age (from me....not the teacher) they sit and we begin class. Today was Anatomy & Puberty day for the 6th graders. Well, you can imagine how that went. I started off by telling them we were going to use PROPER terms in the class. No slang. My first question was, "What is puberty?" This kid raises his hand (doesn't wait for me to call on him) and says, "When you get hair on your Balls." (I hope no one is offended by this, I just want you to get a real life feel for these kids) The kid started laughing and wouldn't stop. This went on for like 5 minutes. I told him he had to go to the hall. He stood by the door laughing very loud. I told him he needed to stop or he would have a consequence. He laughed. I sent him to the principal's office. I have NEVER done something like that but I could not even talk because he was doing this loud fake laugh. So, I tell the kids, I am there to teach them something valuable and if they weren't interested in listening I would leave and spend my time doing something more meaningful. They started to listen. We talk about the diffent changes that occur during puberty. They made it through the "sex talk", errections and even wet dreams but when they had to say the proper term for breasts.... They couldn't handle it. Every boy in the class started yelling out all these slang terms for Breasts. Now, if you were a fly on the wall, this would have been hysterical (watermelons, jugs, boobies, ti**ies, MILK SPOUTS-with hand motions) but I didn't even crack a smile. They never pulled it back together because before I could get them settled down, the principal sent the other kid back because she didn't have time to deal with him...it was picture day and she had to have her picture made. Do you realize this was only my second class. I had three more to go. None of the other ones ever went any better. After I basically yelled at them and told them I cared about them and I thought they really needed to hear what I had to say, but if they couldn't show a little respect...I'd leave, then they would listen. Either way, I will be so happy to go to a different school next week.