keep your dick in your pants

each afternoon, i drop my 5th graders off in their classroom and spend about an hour working with a boy in kindergarten. he is adorable, has a speech impediment, and has actually been described as looking a lot like me by more than a few teachers. for the purpose of this writing, he will be george. working with george consists mostly of practicing writing his name, something he gets great joy out of completing. also, your basic kindergarten reading activities, repetition and picture based stuff. he has been spending a lot of time with his hands in his pants lately and yesterday took it to the next level. awesome.

i got a call from the office asking if i could go speak to george for whipping it out in class to some girls. now, i am all for whipping it out and thoroughly enjoy being naked, so this was going to be a bit of talk that i couldn't full endorse. what i really wanted to say to him was "go for it. you're not going to really get in trouble. do what you want with that thing." instead, i went the conservative route.
me: george, i heard you were unzipping your pants and showing the class some parts of your body.
george: smiles, sheepishly, but not convincingly enough for me to believe he knows what i am talking about.
me: that part of your body is just for you, not for other people to see. unless it is mommy, daddy, or a doctor, it is just for you.
george: i unzipped my pants.
me: yes i know. in school, you need to keep your pants zipped up. your body is not for other people to see. do you understand you need to keep your pants on and zipped up?
george: pants zipped up?
me: yes.

at this point the conversation was basically done, i rubbed his head, slapped him five and we went into my classroom and drew for awhile.

i like this kid.

really?

as we are getting deeper into the school year, a few things are becoming apparent.

first, hopefully every month does not feel as long as september. holy crap, september was a long month.

the next thing that is beginning to reveal itself is how dumb one of my kids is. it's quite sad. this student, we will call this student "pat", tries very hard. works to impress me and my para. pat sets a pretty good example behavior wise and hasn't been a problem thus far. it's just that pat is about as smart as an empty soda can. very stupid.

working with this type of student, i have to do many things. first and foremost, i must remember not to laugh at pat. this is probably the most difficult one to follow. some of the things pat says are so unexpected and off topic i want to throw my book at pat. we can be in the middle of reading a story and i will ask a comprehension based question. pat's hand will go up and a typical response will be "what?" or "what page are we on?". occasionally an answer is on pat's lips and this is usually tragic as well. no matter the question, the first thing that comes to pat's mind is an answer, any answer at all. if i ask what the moral to "the tortoise and the hare" is, pat might come up with, "I don't think fireballs are real." not laughing is difficult.

also, i certainly can't use sarcasm with pat. this doesn't affect pat in anyway, other than pat takes my words as serious, no matter the context and can't wrap pat mind around it.

pat also likes to complete work very quickly, because to pat, a good grade is dependant on finishing first. i am pretty sure pat thinks pat can read 200 words a minute because pat will often look at a page and then turn it. when asked if the entire page was read, pat will nod. when presented with a comprehension question, a puzzled look finds its way to pat's face and the response usually sounds something like, "For halloween i want to get christmas."

i really like pat, however, so teaching pat is not a bad experience, just a rather frustrating and patience-testing adventure.

another student in my class is psychotic. no joke. no funny comparison. actually a psycho.
i noticed it a few weeks ago. let's call this person apple. apple will be sitting in apple's seat, mumbling and talking to nobody else, just apple. normally i encourage this, when reading or solving problems. vocalize and try and sort things out not only in your head, but outloud. one thing that was different about apple's behavior was that apple was not aware that it was outloud. also, a very weird look comes over apple's face during these "conversations." after meeting with the school's therapist and since talking with other doctors that have met with apple, it brought back some scary news. hallucinations, both visual and audio have not been ruled out. apple is displaying schizophrenic tendencies and talks about a knife collection. a few other things have gone on that may lead to some of these symptoms and reactions, but either way, crazy.

i really feel bad for apple because this is something that is not easily controlled, especially in a school environment.

the blinding lack of reason

it continues to amaze me, the choices these students make.

one tick will set them off and they just can't recover, no perspective nor reasoning behind their actions.

a student became disruptive in class yesterday and was not following directions. after a brief time of letting him sit (and hoping he was gathering some thoughts) asked him to come out to the hallway.

once there, i get the silent treatment. something i can definitely handle and was slightly prepared for. one thing i do regret in my approach was that i was a bit too aggresive in the beginning, probably getting him a little bit too guarded and shutting down. but, i quickly toned it down and made sure to be a little more subdued. the reason i was a little too much too soon was because he really was being ridiculous. but obviously not the way he thought about it. also, his lack of listening to directions had me wanting to make sure he understood he needs to follow directions. anyway, round about talking here.

next, i was letting him know he is going to need to say at least a few words in order for us to be able to talk to each other. after awhile of being ignored, i let him know that he has two options. he can let me know if he needs to go to the principal or he can stay with me. still ignoring me, i let him know that if he says nothing at all, there will be consequences and he will be visiting the principal.

needless to say, he stays silent and we go upstairs and he begins to just walk around and be a general pain in the butt, nothing really bad, just a nuisance. to make this story short, he was adamant that he wasn't going to do his reflection paper and was not going to listen to me.

he thinks for a few minutes, listens to me, still adamant that he isn't doing the reflection. told him he should reconsider.

he came in the this morning with his paper.

i must have done something right. he also had a great day today. sweet.

uh-oh

they are almost becoming endearing.

funny note on the day.

usually i keep either a pen or pencil behind my ear throughout the day. last week, the students were making fun of me and started putting pencils behind their ears. i laughed and contemplated cutting their ears off with scissors and then kept teaching. that kind of died off, but i have noticed the past couple days that individual students will put their pencils behind their ears when they are thinking about a problem or waiting for their next instruction.

pretty funny and cute. good thing i didn't cut their ears off.

honeymooning

......i really hope that this is not just that.

the students have certainly shown they are getting more comfortable with the school year, but i still feel a million times better than last year.

i have always, no matter how bad the circumstances, been ok with standing in front of a class. last year, the problem was nobody would ever listen. ever.

this year, they are listening.

i believe this is partly due to the fact that i have some idea what i am actually supposed to and going to be teaching on a day-to-day basis. right now we are working on a tommie depaola unit for ela, incorporating writing into that a little bit. i have a pretty sweet writing assignment i think i am going to start tomorrow about heroes. with so many of these students looking up to less than desireable role models, i want to work with them to identify the positive traits that heroes can provide.

math is still a bit of a review, but i was actually able to sit with them today, work with a lesson i had planned (swish) and even do an activity afterwards. i don't think we did that once last year.

having only 6 students is finally affording me the opportunity to teach. i feel so bad for the 4th grade teacher because she has 13 kids. what a ridiculous thing. but, i am very thankful it's not me, because i have a feeling that i wouldn't nearly as positive as i am right now (see last year).

classroom management is not really an issue with 6 students, but there are still some things they will do to push each others buttons that i am going to continue to work on.

may the honeymoon last forever.

year 2

back at it.

summer was intense and as much as i loved being able to sleep in, i really need to be back in a regular routine.

so far, i am very, very happy about my students. they are at a much higher level than last year, don't have an innate desire to fight and stab each other, and are actually listening.

on a personal note, i feel much more prepared and ready to teach. i have a much better understanding of what i can get done and how to do it. last year was so overwhelming in the amount of material and lack of direction, but i feel confident and ready for this year.

i also hope that i will be posting with much more regularity, because it really does help a lot to get this stuff out of my head and i am able to analyze with a little more clarity after ranting about it.

off we go.

.......

last day of school was yesterday.



every part of my body yearned for this day, counted down the days to this day. i looked forward to every part of this day.

it exceeded all of my expectations.

but..


but.......

as i was cleaning, i began thinking about next years writing assignments. about what i am going to do next year to engage, to better engage them.

isn't this supposed to be the end of the year.

i am not supposed to have excitement about next year.


or am i?

one of my students came and got some work they hadn't got yet.

as he was leaving, he said to me;

"you should stay at your job........you're good at it"

wow.

from a 13 year old.

wow.

all year, i don't need compliments. wow.

this one. this one, however, felt amazing.


thank you.......thank you..



smile.....

heart beats a little faster. he's gone .


still in the dark (power outage) thank you.

all alone.

smile.

thank you.

thank everything for you. wow.


next year.

vacation is going to be great.

but, next year, i am going to be better.

thank you.