Two Incidents

Two incidents from this week, one funny, the other, not so much.

First, the funny one:

I was walking down the hall yesterday when I came upon a few of my students. They greeted me enthusiastically, as always, and we chatted for a moment. Then, out of nowhere, Girl A grabs Girl B's arm, swings here around and shouts, "OMG! Look at Girl B's HICKEY!!!"

Needless to say, I was rather shocked, not just at the fact that Girl B has a hickey (she's a sophomore) but that her friend would blatantly expose her like that. Girl B turned very, very red, grinned sheepishly, then ran into her classroom. Ah, teen drama.

Now, the not so funny one:

Last week, I was giving a test in my Latin 3 class. Apparently it was rather difficult, because as the students were finishing up and leaving, they all looked daggers at me. One student, still working on the test to the very end of the block, was visibly frustrated. As the period ended, he slammed his hand on the desk, shouting, "SON OF A BITCH!" I asked him to calm down, to which he replied, "I will NOT calm down! To you, to everyone else, this is just another test, but I F*CKING need this class to graduate!" He turned in his test and stormed out of the room, kicking the trash can for good measure.

Again, needless to say, I was both shocked and frightened. This particular student is much bigger than me, and if it did come to some sort of violence, which his actions intimated, it wouldn't exactly be a fair fight. It's true that he does need my class to graduate, and that historically he hasn't done well in Latin. That being said, his outburst was totally inappropriate.

I contacted all the appropriate people: adviser, dean of students, academic dean. The next day, the student came into my office and begged for my forgiveness. He was incredibly distraught, and I readily forgave him. Hopefully he has learned to control himself.

Oh, teenagers...

ciao