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Gotta Have Faith

I never looked to my future and said, "Man, I hope one day I'm in charge of resolving all middle school drama." I'd actually bet a lot of money that no one has ever said that - why would you? It's...

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Becoming Heartless

A parent was near tears on the phone with me today, explaining why she'd stood me up for our meeting this morning. Her son was on trial this afternoon, facing serious sentencing, and her good friend...

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Tantrums

She came into the office screaming in fury, fresh out of a furniture-flipping fit she'd thrown after being marked tardy to class. She sat in my office and ranted about all the injustices of the world,...

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Where You'll End Up

I am surrounded by a lot of talk of jail recently. I don't know why, but it seems to be trending pretty seriously over the last few weeks.  Sometimes, it's a teacher giving the "what do you want your...

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Speaking of jail...

Imagine if your dad went to prison when you were in kindergarten. You visit him every Tuesday afternoon for six years and wait for him to come home to your family. Then he gets released a year earlier...

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Not a Punk

School rule: punch someone, get suspended. Simple enough.  This also happens to be a highly controversial rule. Last week, one seventh grade boy said something very disrespectful to a classmate, who...

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Valentine's Day

I was much more forgotten this Valentine's Day than I have been in years past. The sweet kids who think to bring presents for teachers don't normally spend much time in my office, so I was hardly top...

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Stress-Free and Popcorn-Full

Imagine a middle school child throwing a temper tantrum. There's yelling, crying, running around, and lots of refusal to follow directions. Naturally, it always ends up in my office.  Today, the...

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Just Kids

I've dealt with enough knives that I don't mess up the photographing procedure anymore. I've done enough bag searches that I can tell you which stashed lunch items rot and give off the most drug-like...

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Fun With Confiscation

A student in my office today had a pair of white Apple headphones hanging out of his pocket. I held out my hand to confiscate them, and he unplugged them from something before passing them to me....

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HAVE A GOOD NIGHT

I had a parent this evening screaming at me on the phone. This isn't exactly uncommon in my job, and it's definitely not uncommon with this parent. She was giving me a piece of her mind, and I was...

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Armed and Not Dangerous

Once upon a time, we had a pretty serious incident at school involving a knife and some police officers (and me crying in my office as I realized one of my favorites had ruined his life and I couldn't...

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Twinkle Twinkle

A student suspended in my office today was having a reeeeeaaallllly hard time sitting and completing his assignment. He was whining incessantly about the injustice of it all, tapping his pencil, asking...

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Damp Biceps

One of my office regulars got into a very big altercation with a teacher recently that landed him in some serious trouble. He got back from his suspension while I was out for a few days, and there was...

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Evening Stroll

I am walking a hungry boy home from dinner when we see his mom on the porch across the street. She doesn't have custody and he's seen her very sporadically over the last year. His face lights up like...

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Hating My Job

I should probably have mentioned that I hate my job.  It is hard. There's a constant stream of angry middle school students in front of me, who aren't sent to me until the situation is so dire that the...

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Advice Please! Retaining Students

I'm in need of any advice you might have about how to make the second year in the same grade a really effective experience for retained students. If you've seen anything work well, or have a great idea...

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Haters Gonna Hate

Buenas Dias, Happy Labor Day! I am FINALLY getting around to starting this stinking blog chronicling the insaneness that is being a Teach For America Corp member. It is, insane. The insanity began the...

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A Wondrous Wedding Weekend

Here are some photos of my best friends wedding this weekend in Springfield, MO. It was my first weekend in Missouri since moving to Arizona! The look on her husbands face as she walked down the aisle...

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Boiling in the Desert. Eating Dessert.

"Math... High School... Phoenix! Phoen--" I muffled into Mr.'s shoulder, then rolled around on the floor, and then we went to get a celebratory box of bagels. This was in November, 2012. I spent the...

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