The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

This story is actually from last year but I was hesitant to post it. I decided to just go for it. I had this student who came into my French 1 class at the end of April, about a month and a half before school ended. I was pretty easy on him participation-wise for the first couple of days since we were in the middle of a unit but once we started a new unit I expected him to join in with the rest of the class since the information was new to everyone. He wasn't having it. First of all, he was often absent. If I asked him a question, he would just stare at me blankly. If we had a quiz or a test, he always had to go to the nurse. He would often put his head down and fall asleep. The punishment for kids who do that is to stand up (usually for 10 minutes or so). He refused. So I sent him out in the hall. I had a chat with him and told him that he was on the road to failure if he kept this up. He told me that no one asked him if he wanted to be in the class so he didn't care. Interim time came and I sent his mom a grade sheet that showed her that he currently had a 0% in my class. This is the reply that I got from her:

Thank you for hte porgress report. I have a question, being that **** cam from another school system did you even sit down with hime to see what he had covered what he needs to cover and what need to be done to bring him up to speed ???

It's amazing how one little word like "even" really carries a lot of weight. Of course a 0% is my fault. I obviously was not doing my job. So, I wrote back and told her that I had asked her son to stay after several times and he had yet to do so. I also mentioned my concern about his attitude and my willingness to help him. Here's her reply:

Thank you first fro your response. ****'s absences- have all been excused, so if the attendance office as not filtered that information to all his classes. I think that I have a bigger problem. I will talk to **** in regards to him meeting with you after school. As far as his behavior, I will also chat with him, but on a general view, this boy (my son) has been transferred from on top schools in ******* were diversity is prevalent, so his perspective is that his does not want to been there, I am not a teacher, and I know that would be a common verbiage from any 16 year old that had been transferred. Now I make no excuse for non-completed work so I will address that ASAP, but attitude is contagious regardless of the forum you are in. Send me what work need to be completed..

Here were my thoughts:
1)What the?

2)Since he came from a different school in the middle of the year, his behavior is normal? I can't count the number of transfer students I have had and so far he is the only one who acted in such a way.

3)Since my school doesn't have as many black kids as his old school, this has something to do with his behavior? The best part of this is that the class he was in only had 5 white kids, 2 of whom weren't even American. I had whites, blacks, Asians, Arabs, you name it.

4) Attitude is contagious? Are you assuming other students have this attitude in my class? Because they don't. Try the Spanish class across the hall.

5) So, you will excuse a bad attitude and disrecpect to the teacher but not missing work? That makes sense.

6) Some mean thoughts about her writing ability. And maybe her intelligence. We don't need to go into detail.

7) How am I supposed to respond to this in a rational manner??

Luckily I have a friend at work who is a master at sending diplomatic emails so he wrote the entire thing for me. It appeased her and I never heard from her again. When he actually showed up to class I just let him sleep, because it wasn't worth the effort. I did wake him up once to tell him he was snoring and it was disturbing the class. And he ended the quarter with a 0%. Only my second student ever to accomplish that feat! My friend who wrote the email for me is enjoying having him in his French 1 class this year....

Parents: Volume 4

My French 4 students do a project wherein they must present a famous person from French History to the class. They must "be" the person, which includes dressing up. I have actually been quite impressed with some of their costumes. Here's a sampling from last year:

Emile Zola

Paper facial hair was a popular look last year!

Napoleon Bonaparte

Look at how embarrassed and uncomfortable she is! Taking their picture when they're in costume is so rewarding.

Guillaume le Conquérant (William the Conqueror)

That would be dyed shaving cream as his beard, in case you were wondering. He dripped a lot during his presentation.

Cardinal Richelieu

I love this kid! He borrowed all the clothing from the priest at his church!

I would just like to point out the homemade nature of most of these costumes. Even the fancy cardinal didn't pay any money to dress up.

Anyway, one of my students, Christophe, was not the most diligent of students. He had suffered a brain injury some years previous which affected his concentration but the kid was not really about effort. He asked me in class if, instead of dressing up as the person, he could draw what the person looked like on a poster. I immediately said no, as that would open up a whole can of worms of kids not wanting to dress up. He acted annoyed but did not pursue it any further.

One morning a few days later, I arrived at school to see a woman waiting outside my classroom. Christophe's mother. Because right before school is just the perfect time to discuss something with your child's teacher. She proceeded to tell me how I was not accommodating Christophe's disabilities with the project (it's always good to attack right away and assume the teacher doesn't want to help your child. It has nothing to do with the fact that she has 150 students to keep track of). We cleared that up fairly easily but then the subject of the costume came up. She showed me the "poster" that he had mentioned:

While I am 99.99999% certain that he did not make that himself (or even helped), it is a perfectly acceptable alternative to actually dressing up. Before I could tell her that I had no problem with the poster, she says....

We're trying to save for Chris to go to college, we can't afford to pay for a Napoleon costume."

WHAT? What kind of a costume would you have to get that would make a dent in the college fund? Why would you think I would require that of my students? Do you have no creativity whatsoever? And in case you were wondering, one of my students rented a king costume to be Louis XIV. Cost? $15. Maybe she thought she had to buy a uniform actually worn by Napoleon himself. I could see how that could get pricey. I let her know that not only did I not expect my students to choose between college or their French History project but if her son had bothered to explain what his "poster" was in class, it would have saved her a 7:00am trip to school to chew me out.

Parents: Volume 3

Parent-Teacher Conferences. The thorn in my side. My first year of teaching I think I had maybe five parents show up for parent-teacher conferences. Then I changed jobs to a school in a much wealthier area. Now I have a constant stream of parents wondering how on earth their child could be getting a B+ and can they please turn in their late work and retake that quiz worth five points? In all honesty, most of the parents are very nice even if all they care about are grades. My first year at this school I had a 7th period class that was a handful. They gave birth to a new adjective: "7th period". So, when students are being really rowdy, you just tell them "OK, you're being really 7th period right now, it's time to calm down." We often play little vocabulary and grammar games in my class and I punished the entire class for a while by not playing any games. Enter Andrew's mother:

Mother: So, I hear you punished the entire class.

Me: Yes, we won't be playing any games in class until they can behave better.

Mother: Between you and me, Andrew doesn't really like your games.

Me: Well, yes, he let me know that but other students seem to like them. [What a surprise that he was so free with his opinion]

Mother: Maybe you could have some activities that incorporate the culture into the classroom that would make it more interesting. Like something with "American Idol".

Me[confused look] : [Is she honestly trying to give me advice? In what way does "American Idol" incorporate FRENCH culture into my classroom? Should I have a singing competition? What?!]

Mother: [Uncomfortably change topic to Andrew's poor grade]

I would just like to make it clear that my games are pretty much awesome. My students beg to play them. This kid was too cool for school and I can pretty much guarantee he would not have enjoyed an "American Idol" activity. Shock of all shocks, he did not continue in French.

Parents: Volume 2

Another first-year teaching story. I had two boys who were constantly disrupting class. They could not sit next to each other. They could not speak to or about the other person. It got to a point where I took the drastic measure and called home (I really don't like calling parents). Both mothers were very nice and I got the report from one boy that he had been grounded because of the phone call (why do I love it so when they get in trouble?). Here's what the other boy said:

Boy: Yeah, my mom said "Stop misbehaving in French class and since when are you taking French?"

We had finished at least half the year by this point. I had received several signed interim reports from this woman. It was truly shocking that her son was not taking his education more seriously.

Parents: Volume 1

Sometimes when you meet the parents of your students so much becomes clear. My first year as a teacher I met a mother who truly helped elucidate her daughter's behavior. Her daughter, Patricia, had a few attitude and anger management issues. When it came time to have parent-teacher conferences Patricia was failing my class because her group never turned in its quarter project. As I finished speaking to one parent, I saw Patricia's mom (Mrs. T) waiting for me.

Me: Hello! Whose mother are you?

Mrs. T [annoyed, as if she had to respond to a very inane question. This tone continues for the rest of the conversation]: Who do you think?

Me: You must be Patricia's mom [Who else could it be?!?!]. Why don't you sit down?

Mrs. T: Oh, it's that bad?

Me: Uh...no. [How is sitting down a bad sign?]

Mrs. T: Patricia tells me that she is failing because her partner, Marie, didn't turn in the project.

Me: Well, that is part of the reason. What happened is they worked on the project in class and the day it was due Marie had left the project at home. I told them they could turn it the next class period. Once again, they did not have it so they received a zero.

Mrs. T: I don't want my daughter working with Marie again!

Me: Well, she was the one who picked Marie to be her partner.

Mrs. T: Well, I don't think they should do group work at all.

Me: [Silence]

Mrs. T: Now, Patricia told me that since she spoke English in class she had to bring treats to the class. She said if she didn't do it, she would fail.

Me: Well, it's true that when students speak English three times in class they need to bring treats to the class. However, it does not affect their grade at all.

Mrs. T: I don't have time to go buy candy.

Me: It can be something homemade.

Mrs. T: Then I still have to go to the grocery store [because apparently she never goes there]. When you do an activity like this, it just involves the parents!

Me [very timidly]: I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing....

Mrs. T: HUMPH!

Throughout the entire conversation I wasn't sure if she was mad at me or her daughter. I think she was just mad at anyone that had the misfortune to cross her path!