Talking to Seniors

[Note: I am going to start changing student names in my posts. I don’t want a Harriet the Spy incident where a student comes across my blog.]

On Wednesday after school, I crossed the courtyard to go see my fellow teacher, Ms. Jodry. On the way back across the courtyard, I noticed a bunch of my students working outside for the yearbook club. I looked around me. White flakes were falling from the sky; the smoke was thick. (Santa Ana winds had caused mass fires around Southern California). What are you doing outside – get in! And so I had five seniors follow me into my classroom. There went my afternoon planning.

My problem with my seniors is this – I want to be their friend. I really enjoy talking to them. Their lives become my life. Let’s admit, I don’t have that much drama as a teacher – I live vicariously through them. What do you mean Mary and Francisco are dating now! Okay, so Janice and Steve can’t be in a group together because of that epic fight last year. The problem with getting too involved in their lives is getting too involved in their drama.

Edmundo stayed in my classroom for two hours that day. We talked a lot about college and how does not want to go. He’s going to paint with this father, and then he will start his own business. School isn’t meant for people like him he said. School isn’t going to help him he said. As a stubborn twelfth grader, they seem so naïve. But it’s not easy to convince them. Even if I knew the rhetoric to convince him that school is worth the effort, I have to battle the damning. He has Ds on his transcript. How many classes would he have to retake for colleges to accept him? How many adult school classes? How long will it take? Is senior year already too late to start thinking seriously about college when you’ve spent too many years goofing off?

Edmundo is very bright. I know he will succeed in life, even without college. He’s tricky though. Sometimes I fear that his behavior problems in school will translate into problems in a job. Armed with the infinite patience of a teacher, I ignore his name calling and cussing. His inability to stay seated in his chair for a whole period is MY problem. His inability to sit in a chair in ten months will be HIS problem. What boss is as nice as Ms. Goswamy?