Nicknames

Hello friends!
God, please keep Basil the cat in the place you have reserved for the Heer's in Heaven; you created a great cat when you made Mr. Basil; thank you for the time we had with him. And as for the rest of us still here on Earth, watch over us and guide us, as always. A special intention for any one who works with children on a regular basis; please grant us love, patience, humility, thankfulness, and most especially, a sense of humor. Thank you always for the many, many blessings you bestow on each and every one of us, every day. In Jesus' name. Amen.
This year has gotten off to a fun start. Some of the students have come up with nicknames for themselves: "Scorpian," "Noble 4," "Situation," "Mr. Amazing," "Moraky (Mora (if you can roll your r's)-Ky)," "Aray," "Ay-girl (A girl)," "Mini-Shark," "Kinkle," "Lulu," and "M & M." I am "teach," or "Ms. Teach."
The student I am most concerned with is "Scorpian." It's been rumored he has slept through most of third grade and for parts of fourth grade. He fell asleep in my room, probably two days. The second day it happened, I took him to the nurse with these words, "You've slept through my time, you will now sleep through your time," which meant he was to sleep during recess. He was able to get 15 minutes of sleep, and this enabled him to stay awake the rest of the day. But this can't continue.
I do feel bad for him, b/c he's been telling me he is really trying to go to bed early; I believe him, but this is also unacceptable behavior.
This year fifth grade has made a concerted effort to create a feeling of community: complete with a Mayor (M), Deputy Mayor (DM), Hallway police, activities coordinators (playground equipment), and many others. Well the DM and M 'happen' to sit on either side of Scorpian and did an excellent job of helping him stay on task. This is no small undertaking. Scorpian is probably 5'6" and about 200 lbs, but gentle as a panda. But this probably won't solve the problem either.
I am doing my best to think "outside of the box,"with regard to Scorpian. I will be contacting mom, since the nurse told me Scorpian has a low-hemoglobin, which explains the low-energy, and see if she can add more 'greens' to his diet. I am also implementing a three-day 'Let's help Scorpian,' community-wide project. M and DM have already helped Scorpian one day; they will help him two more days, and then I'll have another two students help him. We'll talk about what's appropriate to say and do when encouraging Scorpian, so things don't turn negative. I know that the students will get tired of helping Scorpian, and that's part of my point. Once all the students have had a chance to sit next to him; I'm going to pull the class back together and we'll discuss how everyone feels, including Scorpian, about being helped all the time. Should be interesting and I'm hoping Scorpian will say he's tired of all the help/focus, and will want to be left alone, to do what he's supposed to do.
Yes, good luck to me.
But this won't be the last of interventions, either, I know.
This child has the possibility of becoming a drop out statistic, but that's not going to happen; not on my watch.
"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." Mother Theresa