Ella Rae

Yr 8 Health, E3

It’s Health, which in this case means Sex Ed. I’m provided with an overhead projector and a transparency worksheet featuring various sex ed words and their meanings all jumbled up. Unfortunately I can’t enlarge the sheet too much, so the students can’t see it too well. I ask the ones at the back to come to the front to get a closer look, but some are too ‘cool’ to do it. I decide to dictate the sheet to the class. This requires me to yell out things like ‘nocturnal emission’ and ‘scrotum’ and give their meanings. The students, of course, are loving this.

There are a few trouble makers in this class, and I start to have to deal with them. A couple of girls start crawling around on the floor and under the benches. I send one of them outside for a few minutes. Another student – Tom, who has ADD – has started wandering around the class. I try to keep him in his seat and concentrating on the lesson, but it’s hard when the lesson’s pretty much over.

Another student – Ella Rae – who hasn’t tried to do any of the work, is noisily holding court with her ‘followers’, so I send her out to join the other student. I eventually let the other student back in, but Ella Rae wants to come in too. I tell her to wait her turn, but she keeps sneaking back into class. I get frustrated with this, so I end up shoving her outside, which causes some kind of scandal among the other students – oh my god, you pushed her! etc. Ella Rae and a couple of her mates go up to the office to “tell on me”.

I settle the rest of the students down, but some keep throwing accusations and threats at me. This is turning into a really ‘fun’ class. I tell them I’m not worried, since I intend to tell the Deputy Principal about what happened (which is usually required when you ‘touch’ a student). They seem to think I intend to say I didn’t push Ella Rae, and so they say they can all report me, since they all saw what happened. But I set them straight that I have no intention of denying pushing her, and they seem satisfied with that.

After the class, I see the DP and explain the situation. He’s sympathetic and just tells me to be careful with that group in the future, suggesting that I let him know when I next have them so he can come in and settle them down if he has to.