Pout Boy Gets His Comeuppance

Pout Boy has been, quite honestly, a royal pain in the butt all year. Pout Boy hasn't had a locker since November since he refuses to bring his books to class. He'll come in, tardy, make a big production of it, and throw himself in his seat. He's earned himself a visit to "isolation island" in every class because he can't shut up. He thinks he's amusing cracking jokes and making comments and yelling at his friends across the room. When I moved him to an even more isolated corner so he couldn't be a pest to everyone else in the room, his comment was that "I'm funny and I'm keeping them entertained.".

Right.

Forget calling/emailing the parents. They don't want to hear it, won't answer phone calls, and most likely delete all the emails. He's been banned from the nurse's office as he found a reason to go there nearly once a day and did nothing but sit around and crack jokes and use it as an excuse to get out of class. He's spent quite a bit of time in In-School-Suspension and he's been suspended a few times as well. He begged and begged and begged to get into after-school tutoring. We found him a slot, put him in, and his behavior got him kicked out within weeks. The tragedy of it is that he can be, when he puts his mind to it (which is rare) a good student. He can do the work. However, if something irritates him, if he gets yelled at by a teacher or other adult (which is frequent), he'll put his head down and pout and stomp around like a baby.

He really does think he's too cool for school. He's hip, he's happening, he's the coolest guy on the team.

Or so he thought.

Mrs. Language this week has started the kids in on a mythology project and they're having to work in groups. And for the final project of the year she decided to let the kids chose their own groups. On Monday she let her students roam around the room a bit and get their groups organized.

Pout Boy went to one group and they said no.

He went to another and they turned him down.

A third said "no way!"

A fourth shook their heads no before he got to their desks.

A fifth said they didn't want him because they knew they'd end up doing the work themselves.

A sixth and final group said they'd rather not because he's just too difficult to work with.

Crash and burn, baby!

Pout Boy, after hitting up each and every single group in the class, hoping for someone, anyone, to work with, came up empty.

He stomped over to his desk, whined at Mrs. Language that everyone was being mean, and put his head down and pouted the rest of the period.

There's a life lesson in there for Pout Boy, should he chose to see it. Will he? Who knows?

However, I'm a bit tickled to see that the other kids in the class have at least learned that having someone on your team who won't work is not a good thing. It's not all about having your pals with you and having a good time. It's about picking a group that can work together and get the job done with everyone doing their job. They just figured out that Pout Boy wasn't going to be an asset to their group and turned him down. They've been in class with him all year. They know what he's like. And they aren't laughing now.