Racing to Know You

When we get a new student we often have to race to get to know the student before she can shoot herself in the foot too many times. Case in point, my new student, Easy E, started in right away with behavior that's going to get him in hot water. Not only was he disruptive in class but he immediately alienated the kids around him. Double whammy. Easy E came to us having done almost no work last year and having been suspended repeatedly. He's a nice enough kid and quite interesting to talk to but he has no idea how to talk to other kids. He got into a fight at the bus stop the other day that was pretty serious and wound up with a 5 day suspension (to be fair, he thought fighting at the bus stop would mean he wouldn't get in trouble - nice try Easy E). We're starting to figure out what his needs are but he's not making it easy. We're racing to figure him out before he makes enemies with all of his classmates and teachers. Hopefully we win and he does OK here. If we lose, it's a rough year for all of us.