The Student From Hell

A common challenge in my day to day life is the student that sits in the corner, with their arms folded and nose scrunched as a symbol of disinterest and distrust. This student is the student from hell. This student can morph to be in male or female form. This one student can collapse an entire lesson in a blink of an eye.

Today that student’s name was Yoeli and she was armed and ready to fight. She started the day by repeatedly hitting and kicking her peers and insulting everyone including myself. I have been strategizing and contemplating on how to deal with this behavior for my entire stay thus far. I am working to understand this student and it changes every day. Verbal discipline no matter how gentle, or assertive consistently results in the student acting out in ways that distract the entire class. I am actively working to remember this student is not born ‘but is created by conditions beyond their control.’ (Palmer, Courage to Teach)

My students come from harsh backgrounds. Most sleep in one bedroom with their entire family and don’t have enough to eat, or enough clothes to wear. I do not know the entirety of their lives when they walk out of my classroom.

There is a lot that I don't know. I do know that my favorite part of my day is playing with my kids after school. And some of the kids with the worst behavior in class have the sweetest hearts.

I love it here and I am so grateful for the experiences that I am sharing with my kids. I never want to leave them.