Journaling...

So, for those of you who don't know, I have been teaching in the inner city since the beginning of last summer. I'm teaching 6th grade and I HATE it!! I LOVE the children, just hate the person I have had to become. I've had a really hard time dealing with all the stress and emotional burden that this job has put on me. My husband says I'm a different person and I think my kids miss me. So... I've decided to start journaling my time while teaching inner city kids. This might help relieve some stress and tension- and give you some entertainment.

So, I started in August with 30 students and now I'm down to 16 students. Needless to say, I had some serious pistols! Some left b/c the parents felt that they were getting into too much trouble at our school (and their child has never gotten into trouble)! This is the mindset of some of these parents! GEEZ. And others were asked to leave. I had kids throwing chairs, cursing at me, starting fights, planting cocaine on my desk (so I would get fired), and gang activity. ALL in 6th grade! Oh and the parents are the worst of them all! Parents randomly come sneaking into my classroom, starting fights with other children about their own child! I swear, the just hate the world and they think the world is out to get them!! Oh, and they don't just come picking fights with other kids, they also come to fight me!!! B/c I guess, I'm out to get their child too!!! One parent, had to be taken off of me by our asst. principal. Needless to say, all of this makes me physically exhausted.

So, Yes, I have the naughty kids, but I also have the children that are being raped by their brothers, mentally and physically abused by their parents, and children who watch their parents do drugs and get drunk daily. All of this makes me emotionally exhausted. We have no counselor or anyone for these kids to talk to. So, I'm not only their teacher, I'm their mom, counselor, nurse, etc. The kids come in mal-nurouished and tired, with brown circles under their eyes.

One of the journal entries for the day, a few months ago, was something like: When was a time you have shown honesty and what was the outcome? (The purpose of this entry was to show that usually honesty brings good things! ) Well, one of my kids wrote that she told on her brother for raping her from ages 9-11. When she told, her mom got mad at her and yelled at her brother. Her brother then threatened her to never tell again, and if she did, he would kill her. When I received this journal, I was in shock, nervous, sad, angry, and didn't know what to do. I knew I had to call CPS, so I did. A long story short, I have been to the detective with my sweet student several times, helped her deal with her angry mom, and recently the brother confessed. He also confessed that he raped his 2 month old daughter. He is now going to prison. I will be helping my student get through speaking at his trial and her dealing with her "still" angry mom!

Another student, has been kicked out of schools her whole life. She is very angry and all the teachers hate her! I however really LOVE her. I teach the kids daily about integrity and building character skills with them. We were talking about peace seeking in all situations. She was very vocal during this discussion (which is very rare b/c she hates school), and she was getting so angry at anything I said about peace seeking. I took her in the hall later and asked her why she was sooo angry at everyone all the time. She said, b/c I ususally just don't like the way they look, or the some of the things people say! I said, there is no way that you are mad at someone just b/c of the way he/she looks!!! There must be something more, where does this anger come from? Out of no where, she opened up- crying to me, saying it comes from home. Her mom is terribly mean to her, never talks to her, never comes to anything for her, and lives with her boyfriend who beats her mom. I told her that I truly love her and care for her. I asked her, if I could find someone to talk with her about things, would she be willing, and she said YES! I was floored! So, bringing you up to date, she is getting counseling once/week through medicare. The counselor comes to our school each week and meets with her for an hour. You have no idea how shocking this was to the other teachers in our building when I told them about this student! She has been a completely different student since then. She is getting A's and B's, from straight F's before! This girl has kept me going each day!! I think she might be the only reason that I am teaching there this year!!

So, now, I have caught you up to date on some of the issues I'm dealing with at school. Stay tuned for more. Next semester starts at the beginning of January! Loving this Christmas break right now!! Please pray for my students and for me, if you think about it. I'm just having a super hard time.
Love,
Court

Playdate w/ Ethan & Eli

Jackson had a day off school, so we set up a playdate w/ his cousins! We went to the Children's Museum! It was too cute!! Jack liked the "toddler/baby" area (the playscape) better than Ethan and Eli did! Go figure! Anyways, it was fun! So glad they live close enough now to hang!!

Grace turns 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! I can't believe Grace is 8 years old! Amazing how time flies! We are crazy parents- b/c we had her b-day party at Jillians, downtown Indy. It was LOUD, wild, and very busy, but the kids had a riot!! Grace is the one in the middle with black pants and pink shirt on! The kids went bowling there and had pizza and cake! Wow, it feels like yesterday we were leaving the hospital with our lil' muffin!