Old Math

I have been helping out in a sixth grade special ed math class since the school started, originally on account of a girl with big time attention problems but generally walking around helping students individually. Things have been going well, my protégé has made huge improvements and the class was really starting to "click" and I was talking to the teacher about spending less time in the class. Throw that crutch away I say.

And then in one week we picked up two new boys. Both big time victims of SLS (Sh*tty Life Syndrome, closely related to SPS, Sh*tty Parent Syndrome). Emotional and physical abuse, etc. Not an excuse of course but an explanation for distressing behavior: tantrums, lies, refusals; the whole gamut.

Both these kids are quite capable of doing the work, they are ahead of most of the class in knowledge and ability. But they are used to using bad behavior to get attention, which is probably one of the big things that has been missing in their lives.

Needless to say the class has not absorbed TWO bad apples with grace, kids are reverting to where they were at the beginning of the year. I call it The Math Class From H*ll. It will take us weeks to get things back on track and these two boys moving in a positive direction. At which point the parent will probably pick up and move, leaving me with an empty feeling and the boy with a new school to face.