As I sit and wait, only a few assignments come my way, as one student did everything and two others only did the fun thing as homework; the word search. One student was absent, for the seventeenth time this year, and the other was busy writing lines, since he never does anything in class. One line equals one page, front and back, covered in the sentence we pick for them. In this case it reads, "I will respect the teacher." This particular boy was assigned three lines, which he didn't complete, so they kept doubling. By today, he was at 60 lines, and not allowed in school/class until it was finished. He sat there in the classroom and tried to talk, but I informed him if I heard so much as a peep out of him, I was kicking him out of school. Forever. And he knows I am serious, because I have his Parol Officer on speed dial, and putting him back in jail would be his best option right now.
With the class knowing I am nothing but serious right now, they listen as I explain the bartering system in our class with class money used to give them rights, such as getting a drink or using the restroom. I explained ways to gain more money, and ways to use it, however, it would be in their best interest to save the money for bigger prizes, or for extra credit. I have never seen these boys so quiet and so eager to do their work in class without talking. They want that money. Usually, the day starts by me either giving out 5 pencils, or sharpening 5 pencils. Today, when Oliver announced to the class that he couldn't find a writing utensil, I gladly held out my pen and said, "Here, take it." "No way, Mister Isaac. I am not wasting my money on that. It is a waste of money. I know it is in here somewhere." This would have never happened without Eagle Dollars.
I also bargained with the boys and their spelling tests. Reading and spelling is our main focus with the ones I work with, so getting good spelling test grades is vital to their success. They, however, think eating breakfast at school is vital to success, and they ask for it every day. Now, if they get an A on my spelling test, they are allowed breakfast all the following week. It really is amazing to see how these boys are studying, getting dictionaries to find definitions, and working diligently without interruptions. They even voluntarily ran to the bathroom to get paper towels when I spilled juice all over. This-is-AMAZING! It couldn't be working better.
The day finished without any major blowups or disruptions. In times that I was not ready for them with assignments or homework to be doing, they catch on and get busy making trouble. One word of me telling them it is going to cost their money if they don't sit down, and they are sprinting to their chairs. But three o'clock came and went and football practice came. Hopefully the last one. (As a coach I did not say that, just for the record.) We got them there, and started running. If they were late we had them doing pushups. When someone talked back, the whole team was doing pushups. After our blow up last week when the team told us they didn't want to play anymore (and when we as coaches said 'ok' and skipped practice for a week) they decided to come back and listen to what we say, knowing we WILL give up on them after all they have put us through. I have never seen kids run so much and do so many pushups in my life. They keep telling the principal how we as coaches lose the game because we never tell them when they are doing good, but only yell when they mess up. Therefore, today, we showed them how bad they were, and ran them. I feel bad saying this, but really, they are not good, and now they understand they have to try in practice to be good in a game. Lots was accomplished as we sparked a fire under their butt. If we played anyone tomorrow, I guarantee we would win, but we aren't that lucky. No school tomorrow, and a game on Thursday, so it will be interesting what happens.
But, in the meantime, one great day of school and one great day of practice, all in a single day. I now see why I keep coming back to work every day. Because I know, deep down inside, there is going to be one good day every now and then that makes life fun, and today was that day. I just hope it isn't the last one before I leave. I now know these boys have the work ethic in class and sports, and I can quit blaming it on their culture. I think we finally are taking Haiti out the boys and showing them there are more options than living poor because you cant get an education or being bad on a team because you have never had to work. I can't wait to see the improvement each and everyday. Life is now exciting!!!
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