Update

Well, I don't think I'll be on the evening news for race riots in my classroom, so that's good. There were actually two "gangsta" presentations (in two different classes--but one had already shown me a script to make sure they were not being offensive), and both were fine. They were pretty funny, actually, and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

As for the problem student, I've come to the conclusion after another email from the mother and from a conversation with another teacher who is having similar issues with him that I'm not the problem. This is extremely comforting to me because I so don't want to be one of "those" teachers.

I've mentioned my "dream" class--5th period--before, so here are a few pictures of this class from today. LOVE this class: