Tales of a Sixth Grade Nothing

Rex's classroom experience at Brazos this year is nothing close to ordinary. Unfortunately, this report is second hand and you miss the full extent of the wry narrative Rex is so famous for. But I will try my best (and maybe Rex can add/edit it for me).

After 2 students transferred to another charter school (for reasons unknown), Rex got a new student. Rumors about the impending addition swirled around that the guy was a gang member who was just getting out of jail. The sad thing is that rumors spread around campus among the students are often true, and the teachers learn about things through the student-grape-vine more than they do from each other. This is probably due to confidentiality laws which don't apply among the kids. So, the boy arrived one day, and while his criminal celebrity status excited the other students who aspired to reach the same destination, he told them it was not cool to be in Juvi. He showed them pictures of his prior residence and it looked just like a jail cell. The stark portrayal may not have suppressed their base goals, but Rex actually thought the new kid might have been jolted into caring about his future. To Rex, it looked like reality set in during jail time and he was better behaved than the others. The student was actually closer to grade level than the other students, which was a relief. Unfortunately, the boy apparently returned to Juvenile Hall a week later for rumored reasons of unlawful conduct.

Then 2 new students were inducted into Rex's class. All these kids think they are too cool for the world, but this one guy walked in as conceited as a barber's cat. He tried to be intimidating to the vice principal (not knowing who she was) and puffed himself up like he wanted to pick a fight with her [there's got to be a term for that stance]. When Rex witnessed his body language, he told him "I think now is a good time for you to meet Mrs. Scales, the Vice Principal. Even I don't mess with her, and I'm much bigger than her."

Rex has found an outlet for his stress; he discovered an instructor in Houston that teaches the specific Karate he loved called Oyata Shin Shu Ho Ryu. He showed me the movements he'd been practicing over and over again for hours, and I teased him it was like Karate Kid's "Wax On, Wax Off" because it looked so basic. But, like in Karate Kid, the repetition paid off:

One day, Rex was talking with Mr. Brotherton, and out of the corner of his eye, Rex saw The Pharmaceutical Kid (who has ADHD, ODD, Schizophrenia, Bipolar and an undiagnosed case of Kleptomania) "pretended" to slug Rex. Without even breaking the conversation, Rex used the basic movement he'd been practicing, and grabbed the boy's arm, taking it all the way around and pinning it to his back. The next day, when the new boy arrived, Pharmaceutical Kid warned him about how he better not try anything on Mr. Roberts' or he'd tweak his arm and rough him up.