You hear all about bullies in today's classrooms, but when I saw bullying for the first time this week, I was still very surprised.

 This week in eighth period Honors World History, I witnessed bullying in the classroom.  Mrs. *Thomas* was doing a short twenty minute lecture on Sumer that was set to run up to the bell.  I was standing on the side of the classroom observing the lecture when I noticed a boy, about 7 feet in front of where I was standing, swinging his pen in his fingers and every once in a while hit the kid in front of him with the pen on the shoulder.  He was not looking at the kid’s shoulder, so I assumed he didn’t realize what he was doing and accidently hit him.  A little while later, I saw him kick the bottom of the kid’s chair in front of him.  The second time he did it, i knew it was intentional, so I gave him a stern look.  Once he saw me looking at him, he stopped.  By this time, I could tell the kid in front was pretty annoyed with the whole thing.  He did not react though, knowing that a reaction was exactly what the bully wanted.  I watched the two of them like a hawk for the rest of the period.  Right as the bell rang, the bully reached forward clocked the other kid on the cheek and ran out of the classroom.  I went to chase after him to get him to come talk to the teacher and I, but he was lost in the mass of students.  When I got back to the classroom, the kid who received the brunt of the bullying was already gone.   I told Mrs. *Thomas* right away and she said that she would talk to him first thing in the morning, maybe get a counselor involved, and definitely move his seat to the other end of the classroom.  

As much as we are warned of bullying in the classroom, I still found myself thinking, “this is unbelievable…he is doing this right in front of me.”  I guess I was under the impression that things like this happen in the hallways when students are covered by the masses or when the teacher steps out of the room briefly.  The fact that the kid knew I was in there, not just observing, but helping with discussion, grading papers, talking to the students, was what surprised me the most.  I am interested to hear what unfolded when Mrs. *Thomas* had a word with him.  Hopefully this is the last time I will see this kid do something like this, but I know I will keep a close eye on him from now on.   

On a lighter note, This week was pretty exciting because I got to lead two classes for the first time.  The students read a section from the book aloud while I moderated the jumping from one reader to the next and pronouncing words that they were unable to say correctly.  Then I handed out the worksheet and walked around while they worked on it and answered any questions they had.  Finally, we went over the worksheet where I called on various students to read the question and give me the answer.  I also elaborated on some of the answers. For example, one question asked if the King of Sumer had absolute power or shared power.  The answer was absolute, but I followed with my own question of “who did the King answer to?” The students were able to answer with Asher, the only deity the Sumerians worshiped.  The first class I was a little nervous and did not do more than get the correct answers.  The second period that I led the class I was much more comfortable and was able to ask more clarifying questions.