His problems will become my problems, but my problems will remain my problems. Anything good will become his. Except in the one class where it won’t.

I’ve mentioned before how the junior high school classes at the school where I work are divided into S or “Special”, which are the higher level students, and R or “Retar, er, NOT Special” which are the lower level students.

The depressing part is that JHS 1 students (7th graders) are not separated until after summer. Because of this we have a mix of higher and lower level students.

However, we already know if we’ll have the higher or lower level classes and, since I have two lower level classes, it’s hard not to get depressed.

That kid who makes sex jokes but never actually writes anything will stay in my class. That kid with the English accent and the near perfect grammar, he’ll be moving out of class. That kid who’s eye’s glaze over whenever I speak to him, he’s definitely staying

In my higher level classes. I have the opposite feeling. That kid who turns everything I say into a sex joke will probably be moving down to the R class. That kid who thinks I won’t make him write that bad word 1,000 times will also probably be moving down.

At least I hope they will.

He said hello and asked if I remembered him. I said “Of course I remember you, Mr. Dramatica” and then we exchanged a fist bump. After that, well, things got weird, and although he looked familiar, I’m not actually sure he was the same kid.

Although I’ve seen bad students change for the better, I’ve only seen it happen once and heard about it happening one other time. I’ve never seen it happen in the year when students are supposed to be bad. In the former case, one of the worst students I’ve ever had in junior high school became a decent high school student after being held back at least once. In the second case, I escorted a student to the principal’s office (even though I shouldn’t have) and heard that he became a better student after that.

In the current case, though, the student has changed fast enough that it has me kind of paranoid and I’m convinced I had the evil twin before and the good twin now. Or maybe he’s still the evil twin and I’m just being played.

That said, he not only acted friendly, he followed instructions and asked questions when he didn’t understand. Just when I thought things couldn’t get stranger, he volunteered to do his speech. Making things even more bizarre, he wasn’t the worst student in the class. (Note: he is now an 8th grader/Japanese JHS 2.)

I didn’t say much about his behavior in case 1) I might spoil him and encourage bad behavior or 2) I might wake up from the dream I’m in.

Then again, it is early in the year…

Today is the last day before classes actually start and I’m befuddled that two people are actually optimistic. Well, actually, I understand why: They are new or have been absent.

It is a tradition at this point in the start of the year to carefully study class lists and either celebrate or swear and drink heavily.

In my case, my list isn’t that bad, although I do have a couple problem students from last year and one class that promises to be problematic. At least that class is before lunch.

As for the optimists, one is a replacement for a teacher who found a different job and the other was on maternity leave last year. The former is naive and the latter claims to have relaxed more than she’s ever relaxed in her life.

At this point I went: do you actually have two kids?

That said, new classes bring new dynamics because the worst players appear to have been split up. JHS 2 (8th graders) will still be terrible, but at least they are only once a week.

Oddly, I remain oddly optimistic.