I'm trying to do what??

My 5th period is impossible.  I heard horror stories about them when I came back from maternity leave, after they'd had Ms. Jones as their sub, who is a very nice older lady but didn't have much of a handle on discipline issues.  I knew I had to come out of the gate pretty fierce with this group, and for the most part, I've handled up on them pretty well.  Hell, I had a student today ask me why I had to be "the second strictest teacher at Hood" which, I must admit, I was proud to hear.  The whiny comment validated the fact that I've got them where I want them. 

As good as I've felt about taming most of my classes who spent three months playing and not learning ANYthing, my 5th period has managed to continue to frustrate me on a regular basis.  They are my largest and probably smartest group, and having them at the very end of the day does not help matters.  They are crazy nuts. 

I have been warned over and over that when the principal visits classrooms he wants to see group work, cooperative learning and group work, so I have complied and made sure that we are in groups for most class periods.  I finally realized that I could give a damn what the Man wants, my last period will no longer be working in groups.  After separating ALL the friends and putting my 5th period in their new seating chart today, another teacher who was in the room with me caught a note being passed across the room, from one friend to another.  When she took the note and read it to me, I had to pretend to be offended, when I actually wanted to smile and pat this little girl on the head for her amazing creativity.

The note:

"Why did Mrs. Rutherford separate us?"
"Because she's trying to bring back slavery.  She wants to separate the blacks and the mexicans."

First of all, I'm not sure how separating "the blacks and the mexicans" is slavery but okaaaay, and second, this baby girl was separated from her two friends who had both just had parent conferences.  Somehow, she wasn't seeing the behavior aspect of the new seating chart or that these three musketeers are the worst of the whole class, only my blatant racism for putting her on the opposite side of the room from her buddies.  HER parent conference is tomorrow morning, and I'm looking forward to what her mother thinks about her daughter's latest insights.