Teaching Story 3

Name has been changed.

Robert2 started the year yelling, screaming and throwing chairs. He could neither read, write or do math. "I am stupid" was a common comment by him. We got him learning, he made friends and he showed good improvement. He had some goofy behaviors but they were less and less.

One day, he came to school and started throwing chairs, desks, etc. He was upset. He was worse than I remembered. We isolated him so he could not hurt himself or others and he settled down. I called mom:

I got this message: "Linda, you fu--ing bitch. You were sleeping with my man so i beat the shit out of you. I hate your fu--ing guts - you wh--e, I threw all your shit out into the street, come and get it. I will beat the shit out of you when you come:"

The tone rang: I said, I am Robert2's teacher and he is having a very bad day, could you please call or come to school immediately.

She never called. I went back and asked if things were rough at his house last night. He just cried.