Brandon, a B-level reader (kindergarten), sat next to Anthony, the lone W-level reader (6th grade) in the class. At some point, Brandon began surreptitiously borrowing Anthony’s W-level books to read, or rather to fake read during quiet reading time. [...] When I caught him doing this one day and tried to correct him, he stood up and threw the children’s book across the room. “I ain’t reading this baby shit no more,” he yelled. The class erupted in laughter. This earned a call to his mother, a stout, boisterous woman who often volunteered at the school. “Come here,” she said, more forcefully. When he didn’t come, she walked over to his desk and pulled him out of his seat by the collar. She stood him up and slapped him neatly across the face, not nearly as hard as she could have, but hard enough to make the tears flow. Then she dragged him by the collar into the hallway, where she screamed at him loud enough for the neighboring classrooms to hear, and slapped him a few more times. I don’t think I ever called his mom again.