Young Men's Club - 3/4/08

For today's club I will say that I am very grateful that I cannot go to jail for my thoughts. And I will simply leave it at that. I did start today with a very positive attitude. Nasir, showed up a little early and I decided to pull him aside and work with him on his drumming. It's been clear to me that he's been lagging behind on his skill level as compared to everyone else. It was incredibly difficult to get him focused but I was finally able to get him to play the drumming piece relatively properly. Also, there was yet another rehearsal for the big show. Ah that damned show. Once again, it's so difficult to get those kids to focus when they're in a big group. I attempted to remind myself that they will calm down during the actual show but the more I let it go, the louder they became. I would also like to point out that in my day, if an adult told me to be quiet, I would be quiet. I would not have kept talking. The times have changed. Nasir, believe it or not, was the absolute worst. He kept talking and talking and acting sillier and sillier. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore so I pulled him from the show. And not just on a temporary, hollow-threat basis in order to try and get him to behave. He is out. Out, I say. I'm done with him. And to be honest, he's very close to being removed from the program entirely. The kids, in general, just could not get it together for the speech portion of the show. However, they were much more focused and disciplined for the drumming portion of the show. And that's when the lightbulb went off. I told the kids that if they wanted to participate in the drumming portion of the show, they had to behave for the rest of the show. I will giveth and taketh away the drumsticks based on how the act. We'll see how this tactic works on the next club day. I really can't wait for this show to be over.