It's Teaching, Not Soccer

I am working at a non-traditional high school. How is it non-traditional exactly? My classroom holds 14 student at capacity--something that never has been acheived in the month that I've been here. The class averages an attendance of 8. I also work under a master teacher and alongside an instructional aide -- that's a great ratio, ain't it?

One might wonder: is there a catch? This sounds too good to be true! There most certainly is. In order to be admitted into our school, a student must be kicked out of their previous one. Yup, that's right. It's a school for the expelled.

There are a myriad of issues in the classroom. There is, however, one issue that sticks out at the moment. I've observed that the primary threat and means of discipline is getting kiced out of the classroom. There are seldom any warnings besides the go-to phrase, "you're doin' too much." When the inappropriate behavior crescendoes beyond the "too much" realm, the teacher kicks him or her out. Most times it's next door to a guy who isn't afraid to "beat up students" as the kids described (a totally different issue) or it's getting sent home.

Now I wonder. If these students are here because they got kicked out of their previous school, and nearly all of them have been kicked out of this one. What message are we sending to them? The only potential you have is to get kicked out? If something is too hard, just be a big enough nuisance to kick yourself out? Am I showing these kids that I love them or care about them?


It is easy to kick a student out. I've already kicked out two in the past two weeks. This has got to change. I must reposition myself in this conviction: don't take the easy route. Therefore, my goal is to not kick out another student from my class.