Back to School Night

Back to School Night was on Thursday from 6-8pm. It came up quite suddenly and I wasn't quite sure what to do. Basically, the parents just went around the school and met teachers and whatnot.
I went home at 5pm and took a quick nap and ate dinner. I got back to the school right at 6pm and didn't leave until about 9:30pm. Another long day.

Earlier that day, I had an interesting situation arise with one of my students. We'll call him...Calvin. My 4th period has 14 8th graders. This is my largest class considering my other classes don't have more than 8 students each. I have 7 computers in my classroom, and I wanted to use them for an activity. Therefore, I divided the students into Group 1 and Group 2. Students in Group 1 were at the computers while Group 2 students read silently. They switched after about 10 minutes. Well, one of the students in Group 1 had to go to the bathroom, so I moved one of the students (Calvin) in Group 2 over to Group 1. Calvin was not happy about this switch. I couldn't let him move back to Group 2 just because he complained about it, so I told him that moving to Group 1 was my direction, and he needed to follow it.
He dragged his feet to the computer, and then refused to do the work. He sat and stared at the wall. When Group 1 was finished, they silent read. Calvin still sat and stared at the wall during this part. Awesome.

I asked Calvin to stay after class for a quick chat, and when it was just the two of us in the classroom, I asked him what happened in class. He refused to answer my question three times, and finally mumbled that I switched him to the group he didn't want to be in. I told him that I understood he didn't want to be in Group 1, but that was the direction, and next time he needed to follow my direction.

I was curious whether his parents would show up to Back to School night, and this is what happened:

I was sitting at my desk working on something when the door opened and a mom and dad walked in. They were trying to get their child into the classroom, and kept saying, "Come inside! You need to see the teacher."
Well, what do you know, I walked over and caught a glimpse of dear Calvin fleeing the scene. The teacher next door laughed and said, "Ms. Damron! You already have a reputation!"
All I could answer was, "Then my goal is accomplished."

I was talking to the mom and said that her son might not be very happy with me because we had a difficult time in class. I explained that I switched him to a different group and he did not appreciate that. The mom replied, "All you did was switch his group?"
Yeah...
His parents were very nice though, and Calvin is a sweet kid.

I was interested as to how the next day would go considering I had apparently traumatized Calvin, but he was a complete angel the next day. He was quiet, got right to work, and followed all of my directions.
Needless to say, I now have a soft spot for him!