There seems to be an epidemic of truth bending going around, at least in my classroom. Ninth graders really think they are sooooo smart, and I am sooooo stupid.
*”I am having a root canal tomorrow. We are really low on money, so I an not having Novocaine.”
*”We have been without power for three weeks now, but hope to get it back today.” (This in response to another student tell about a tree that fell on his power lines in the big storm the other day.)
* These are both from the same student who also told me the reason he goes home so often is that he gets migraines and has to go to the doctor immediately for medicine. This one is greatly believable, but his horrified mom told me not only is he not being treated for migraines, but he has never had a migraine in his life.
Another student told me she had been throwing up blood for a month now, but her mother would not take her to the doctor because she hated her. I reported this to guidance, who contacted the mom, who said it was the first she had heard of it.
Cell phones (and IPods) are to be turned off in school, and the kids can only use them before school, after school, and at lunch. This is almost an impossible task to control. When they use them in class we are to take them and give them to administration. Then a parent has to come in and pick it up. These parent come right after school to get them, time and time again. Then they give them back to the kid immediately. Heck, my parents would have kept them and a little longer each time. Anyway, the other day I caught a kid texting someone. When I asked for her phone she said, “I have to have it on today. My mother is having surgery and she is going to call me to tel me if she is dead.” Mom was not having surgery.
Me: Why are you late?
Kid: I was talking to a teacher.
Me: Ok good, run back to that teacher and get a pass.
Kid; Well, that was this morning, but I was talking to someone.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
These a just a handful of recent ones. I should keep a list somewhere and just keep adding the lies as they are created. They arrive daily.
Asheville
37°
May 16th, 2008 at 9:53 am
there IS hope!
last week the shelter i work for got in a kitten that was thrown out of a car, and it was pretty badly injured…a group of 9th graders (actually an honors geography class) heard about it, and in 24 hours raised enough money to cover the total cost of the surgery the little guy needed…
if the little buggers did that by lying , cheating and stealing…well, more power to them, i guess…it’ll just better prepare them for their future lives in politics!
seriously…there are great kids out there too!
May 16th, 2008 at 10:12 am
I agree there are great kids out there, and many of them are in my classes. It is the time of year that I feel the awful ones most. If your big toe hurts, you do not mention to someone that nine of your toes are good; you say your big toe hurts. Thus this group of kids is my big ole sore toe!!!!
Our police officer’s (each school has one) mother’s house burned down. The kids collected over three thousand dollars to give her.
But my big toe still hurts.