It is a crazy week. I wasn't expecting a crazy week and I am totally surviving minute by minute in my classroom but Friday is almost here right...?
On top of the extra unexpected craziness in my room this week today I had extreme highs and lows with my kids! One minute, they were exceptional! The next minute, I wanted to walk out the door!
[Total. Chaos.] That's how I will remember this week or at least the past two days!
I have a tie for my favorite moment (high) of the day:
The first one was Mohamed's achievement. Mohamed broke his arm last week, so this week he has a cast and (sometimes) a sling...he hates wearing it and would rather just sit with his arm raised in the air! Whatever works, kid. He had a ton of things to take home today...agenda, homework folder, sweatshirt, the sling, and a toy dinosaur he brought in for our Dino unit. He was struggling to get it all in his bag which is even more of a challenge with the tiny bag he has and only one good hand. I offered to help, but he was determined to make it all fit on his own. After punching things around he finally had space to fit the dinosaur in the bag too...but he left the head out because the dinosaur has to breathe! The pride he had after making everything fit was funny enough, but the fact that he threw the bag down like he just scored a touchdown and walked away with his chest puffed out made me literally laugh out loud!
The second favorite moment goes to Adam. Adam is 'that' student; the one who makes you want to scream one minute but melts your heart the next. That is Adam. Everyday, it is a battle with Adam's shoelaces. One one shoe, the laces aren't long enough. On the other they are too long. And Adam can't tie them himself. Of course. So I spend way too much time each day tying his shoes, waiting for another student to tie them, or just praying that no one steps on the floppy laces while he goes up and down the concrete stairs! Today I stopped class, ignored the other 18 students and taught Adam how to tie his laces! *sidenote: Mom, I am even more supportive of your "no tie shoes until you can tie shoes" rule!* I took both of his shoes off- not the best idea... Stinkiest little kid shoes ever! I gave him one shoe and used the other to show him what to do. He got it on the 2nd try! And then just before we went home (30 minutes after tying them) he had to tie them again, and succeeded! We all clapped and celebrated and his smile was the perfect reminder of why I became a teacher...something I desperately needed after the last two days!
The low.
I think this may be a moment that haunts me throughout my teaching career. I probably could have and should have found another way to handle it, but I had to stick to the consequence or the next offender would feel slighted. It started at lunchtime (I hate lunchtime). Stefan came out with two cookies; a mistake on the cooks part. I don't know how he got two, but the others only got one...and all 19 of my students felt the need to inform of this. Of course, they all wanted to go back for another cookie, and I had to say no because 1. they don't need two cookies and 2. you can't have 2nds on dessert. Tarik, my sweet, hard-working, dependable Tarik, asked if he could get a second bottle of water. I reluctantly said yes, because I'm not really sure if they can have two waters, but I let him go ask. He came out with a water AND A COOKIE! The chef was shortly behind to scold him for taking a cookie. The chef could see the first cookie wrapper on T's tray and then asked who Tarik's teacher was...as though he was about to shift his rage to me! An Angry Moroccan Man yelling at me Will bring me to tears; I have no doubts about this. I told the chef Tarik wanted another water and the chef told me that Tarik said he never got a cookie. The school and classroom policy is that when rules are broken student's get a 'red mark' in their agenda and a note to their parents. They also don't get recess if they have a red mark. I told Tarik he would have to go right to red (I don't even think he has been moved to 'warning' before). He instantly broke into tears and wailed for the rest of lunch. I felt awful. He is the kid who never does wrong and I think part of him thought cookie #2 was okay because another student had gotten 2 desserts. We got to recess and I dismissed those who could play and gathered those who didn't finish their morning work. Tarik kept asking if he could move to yellow for being really good the rest of the day. I so badly wanted to agree, but he did lie and steal and that is not okay. I pulled him aside and explained that for those reasons he had to have red. He wailed again. I felt terrible. I asked if he wanted to play at recess or come to the room (even though he shouldn't have gotten recess) and he chose to come to the room. The kid punished himself! Making me feel even worse! He brought me his agenda and we wrote the note together. I added a sentence that his behavior was great outside of this incident! I don't want him to be severely punished because I do believe he felt bad and was truly upset. He put agenda away and then just sat at his seat. He was perfect for the rest of the afternoon and thankfully he seemed to recover shortly after the Social Studies lesson began. I still feel terrible for him though.
He will probably never eat a cookie again.
On top of the extra unexpected craziness in my room this week today I had extreme highs and lows with my kids! One minute, they were exceptional! The next minute, I wanted to walk out the door!
[Total. Chaos.] That's how I will remember this week or at least the past two days!
I have a tie for my favorite moment (high) of the day:
The first one was Mohamed's achievement. Mohamed broke his arm last week, so this week he has a cast and (sometimes) a sling...he hates wearing it and would rather just sit with his arm raised in the air! Whatever works, kid. He had a ton of things to take home today...agenda, homework folder, sweatshirt, the sling, and a toy dinosaur he brought in for our Dino unit. He was struggling to get it all in his bag which is even more of a challenge with the tiny bag he has and only one good hand. I offered to help, but he was determined to make it all fit on his own. After punching things around he finally had space to fit the dinosaur in the bag too...but he left the head out because the dinosaur has to breathe! The pride he had after making everything fit was funny enough, but the fact that he threw the bag down like he just scored a touchdown and walked away with his chest puffed out made me literally laugh out loud!
The second favorite moment goes to Adam. Adam is 'that' student; the one who makes you want to scream one minute but melts your heart the next. That is Adam. Everyday, it is a battle with Adam's shoelaces. One one shoe, the laces aren't long enough. On the other they are too long. And Adam can't tie them himself. Of course. So I spend way too much time each day tying his shoes, waiting for another student to tie them, or just praying that no one steps on the floppy laces while he goes up and down the concrete stairs! Today I stopped class, ignored the other 18 students and taught Adam how to tie his laces! *sidenote: Mom, I am even more supportive of your "no tie shoes until you can tie shoes" rule!* I took both of his shoes off- not the best idea... Stinkiest little kid shoes ever! I gave him one shoe and used the other to show him what to do. He got it on the 2nd try! And then just before we went home (30 minutes after tying them) he had to tie them again, and succeeded! We all clapped and celebrated and his smile was the perfect reminder of why I became a teacher...something I desperately needed after the last two days!
The low.
I think this may be a moment that haunts me throughout my teaching career. I probably could have and should have found another way to handle it, but I had to stick to the consequence or the next offender would feel slighted. It started at lunchtime (I hate lunchtime). Stefan came out with two cookies; a mistake on the cooks part. I don't know how he got two, but the others only got one...and all 19 of my students felt the need to inform of this. Of course, they all wanted to go back for another cookie, and I had to say no because 1. they don't need two cookies and 2. you can't have 2nds on dessert. Tarik, my sweet, hard-working, dependable Tarik, asked if he could get a second bottle of water. I reluctantly said yes, because I'm not really sure if they can have two waters, but I let him go ask. He came out with a water AND A COOKIE! The chef was shortly behind to scold him for taking a cookie. The chef could see the first cookie wrapper on T's tray and then asked who Tarik's teacher was...as though he was about to shift his rage to me! An Angry Moroccan Man yelling at me Will bring me to tears; I have no doubts about this. I told the chef Tarik wanted another water and the chef told me that Tarik said he never got a cookie. The school and classroom policy is that when rules are broken student's get a 'red mark' in their agenda and a note to their parents. They also don't get recess if they have a red mark. I told Tarik he would have to go right to red (I don't even think he has been moved to 'warning' before). He instantly broke into tears and wailed for the rest of lunch. I felt awful. He is the kid who never does wrong and I think part of him thought cookie #2 was okay because another student had gotten 2 desserts. We got to recess and I dismissed those who could play and gathered those who didn't finish their morning work. Tarik kept asking if he could move to yellow for being really good the rest of the day. I so badly wanted to agree, but he did lie and steal and that is not okay. I pulled him aside and explained that for those reasons he had to have red. He wailed again. I felt terrible. I asked if he wanted to play at recess or come to the room (even though he shouldn't have gotten recess) and he chose to come to the room. The kid punished himself! Making me feel even worse! He brought me his agenda and we wrote the note together. I added a sentence that his behavior was great outside of this incident! I don't want him to be severely punished because I do believe he felt bad and was truly upset. He put agenda away and then just sat at his seat. He was perfect for the rest of the afternoon and thankfully he seemed to recover shortly after the Social Studies lesson began. I still feel terrible for him though.
He will probably never eat a cookie again.
Poor little guy, hope this doesn't scar him for life!
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