Fireballs, Gentlemen Callers, Wide and My Guardian Angel

Fireballs

I went out for drinks a few Friday's ago with the teachers and a group of individuals from a behavioral services organization that employs IvyL.  While I've been invited to attend these functions on a number of occassions I rarely do.  Why?  In most cases I'm old enough to be everyone's father and in a number of instances I'm old enough to be their grandfather.  The first time I joined the teachers was last year when I met BaseG, Gee, Mr. C. and his significant other Jade and PhD(*)Sparty at a Mexican restaurant in the historic Fountain Square District here in Indianapolis.  I had a couple Sun King Wee Mac's and really enjoyed the time with my colleagues.  The last invite I received came from IvyL and at first I politely declined.  A couple days past and I thought the request to go out for drinks was over.  Wrong!  Sitting on my desk was another invite to attend the event that was being held at a place called the Ice House.  This invite was in writing and at the bottom was this comment, "you better be there".  It was signed by IvyL.  I decided to go and found myself sitting at a table with a bunch of women; Gnu, Knew, Oreo who did bring her husband who is not really her husband (it's a long story that I'll save for another time), IvyL and some of her female colleagues. The first order of business, let's do some shots.  Whoa!  This could be an interesting evening.  I agreed to do a shot.  I immediately hear Schultz you're going to do a shot?  Being polite I say "I'm Catholic and Polish, I grew up doing shots and PBR's so what are we drinking?  The response, Fireballs.  Oh my God, girl shots. For those not familiar with the drink I'll refer you to Wikipedia, a flavored Canadian whisky liqueur with a cinnamon flavor.  I had two shots plus two Sun King Cream Ale's and some nachos.  The truth be told, I had a real nice time.

Gentleman Callers

So as not to confuse anyone this is not the same gentleman caller that I mentioned last year.  That Gentleman Call who I will refer to a Gentleman Caller #1 is an acquaintance of PhD*Sparty.  Both of them now reside in another state.  The new Gentleman Caller #2 arrived at the Ice House about an hour after everyone else. When he arrived he was greeting by IvyL who then escorted him to a seat right next to her.  At first I thought he was a colleague from the same organization that employs her so I went about my business listening to the chatter of the hen festival.  A few minutes later I notice some movement to my right and notice that IvyL is holding hands with Gentleman Caller #2.  To quote Arte Johnson from the original Live from New York It's Saturday Night, interesting, very interesting.  At an appropriate time I will ask IvyL some follow up questions.  Assuming I won't get smacked up side the head for asking I'll keep you posted.

Wide

For the first time since my arrival in the classroom a couple years ago I'm worried about a scholar's safety. Although he is in the fourth grade Wide is short and thin.  There is nothing about his stature that would indicate to someone not familiar with him that he is in the fourth grade.  Given the volatility of MiniJ and NoFouls who regularly throw punches at each other I can seem them going after Wide the first time he erupts and starts yelling at them.  I can also see Yo!, the stealthy bullying specialist, taking an interest in someone much smaller that him while outside on the playground or in large group activities like gym.  Starting Monday morning the intensity of my job will increase so my guard will be up.  We will have seven young scholars with serious anger control issues in the same classroom.  Here is an even scarier thought.  In less than two weeks we will have nine young scholars with serious anger control issues in the same classroom.
      
My Guardian Angel

I can say with all honesty that this year has been my toughest year.  In previous years there was just one scholar erupting at a time.  This year we've had two and three erupting on the same day.  In previous years I'm having to think real hard to come up with a scholar who threw a punch.  This year punches are exchanged just about everyday.  Last year I made some pretty stupid mistakes that I was told were not stupid but simply human errors.  The human errors comment came from PhD*Sparty and her timing in coming to my rescue when I was struggling was and still is greatly appreciated.  Well, PhD*Sparty has moved on and is in pursuit of a PhD degree at a university in Michigan.  So I wondered who would come to my rescue when I was struggling this year?  Thankfully that person arrived at just the right time a few weeks ago when I thought the mix of scholars in the room was at its worse and my thoughts were turning to towards work in another area.  Who might that be?  Oreo, who is a behavior specialist at our school.  Twice recently she walked in and sat down next to me to chat.  "You can't leave" is what she said to me.  You can't because of the value you bring to these very troubled young scholars.  You can't because there is a first year teacher in the room who really relies on your judgement when dealing with the challenges these young scholars present. You can't leave because the academic level of these young scholars is so varied that one teacher can't teach all of them at the same time.  This teacher needs another teacher in the room and that teacher is you.  You can't leave, end of conversation.

Although you don't know it because all you see is text there was a long pause before I started this paragraph. I was rereading the last few sentences and thinking how wonderful it is to work with talented people like Oreo.  I don't know how she knew it but she knew that I was struggling and on two separate occasions quietly approached me for our little pep talk and it worked.  Because of her I'll continue on with my view from the back of the room.

The bar is open and I just cracked open a Blue Moon.  Thanks again for reading the blog.