Rumble at the Elementary school

I had it in my head that I would from this point forward only write about the happy, quirky, wierd stuff that grabs my attention. But, alas, I had one of those days that makes me wonder,"what the heck is going on with the youth of today?" So I am teaching the 6th graders. And we get to the end of the class, and I still have like 8 minutes to kill, so I whip out a book for storytime (yeah, I know, 6th graders are too old for storytime...but sometimes a story is the perfect time killer.) Anyhow, these guys are pretty competent with the English Language (they have had at least 7 years of lessons) but the books that their teachers request I read are for the most part kindergarten reading level. Today's book was by Eric Carle (he's the guy that did The Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?) and by all means a completely pacifistic book. So I am reading it...acting out the voices...making big gestures (you know, the stuff one does to make sure they are completely understood.) And suddenly I get to the part about the gorilla...something like "I am a gorilla and I thump my chest, can you thump your chest?" So as I beat on my chest, I watch as one of the boys gets super agitated and crawls up behind the new kid (who happens to be Okinawin...so I feel for his pain, since it seems this town doesn't really like my people, the Okinawins...but that's another rant) and starts kicking the boy with all of his might. The aggressor I might add is about 2 times the size of his prey. I stop reading and was like, "What the hell is this? Stop it!!!" And the teacher, kind of says (in English, so you know it was "real" effective) "You shouldn't do that." And the bully keeps kicking the kid as hard as he can in the back. Finally the teacher pulled him away, but he went back at least 3 times for more. I felt so bad, for the kid who was getting beaten up....cuz, you could tell he was really hurting and trying not to show it. And since he was right in front of me, I could see him crying, but he kept telling the kids around him that he was okay. So I did the only thing I could do, to draw the attention away from him...I kept reading the book, acting more and more over the top with each page...I have never been so happy for the bell to ring.

I guess the whole reason for the broohaha was that the "victim" had called the bully a gorilla the day before, and hurt the bully's feelings...so my reading of the story had brought up repressed anger on the part of the bully.

Whatever...the victim brought me candy later that day as a thank you for blocking a blow from the bully. (I'm quick, I didn't get hurt...i just pushed the kid out of the way so he wouldn't get hurt either.)