I have had the most wonderful week! Everyday was a good day with a lot of learning. Monday and Tuesday were unbelievably excellent and probably the most productive days since I have been out here. Like I have said before a lot of days feel very worthless, but both days I got through all of my lessons and I felt like my students were actually learning. Wednesday and yesterday my teacher was home sick, so I had the class to myself. Surprisingly it wasn’t too bad. Usually the kids are a lot more difficult to manage when my mentor teacher is gone, but they really haven’t shown too much of a difference in behavior this past week. I was still able to get a lot done and I didn’t really feel too overwhelmed with any management problems. I did have a fist fight go on at the end of the day Wednesday, but I handled it and nobody got too hurt. J I will explain more…I just finally felt like a teacher. I felt like I had my class under control. I know my kids. I know how to handle each child on an individual basis which allows me to be a teacher on a deeper level.
Good Stories:
Okay, the fight. I have had 2 other major fights that involved fists, tackling, or serious aggression. This one I think has topped them all. It began with an exchange of chips between two boys in my class. To make a long story short they were fighting over who the chips belonged to. Both boys have a temper and it became violent quick. I looked up to find one of the boys throwing the other down on the floor. Then the boy on the floor got up and gave the other kid a bloody lip. At this point they were chasing each other around the room. After two desks were knocked down I was able to get in the pathway of one boy and I kind of grabbed him and swung him out the door as another teacher came over to help. So that teacher took him and I was able to deal with the other one still in my class. I calmed my class down and we continued with the day. I had a discussion with them and things were better today. They just don’t know how to handle their emotions or deal with arguments. They know how to fight. They are 7 years old and that is what kills me. It is sad that all they know how to do is fight. But I successfully handle the situation and it didn’t seem to affect the classroom environment too much.
One of my students was walking past a Jesse Jackson poster in the hall and he said:
“Miss Collett look it is Jesus. Jesus Jackson” He was reading the poster; needless to say, he needs to work on his reading. J
I was very proud of one of my students because the principal came into my class and my student actually proved that he had learned something that day. (Side Note: My principal drives me crazy. He is a lot of talk, but doesn’t really do much but bug everyone. He periodically drops in unannounced and if he feels like it gives a quick 5 or 10 minute lesson on nothing to do with what the students are learning.) So, he dropped in the other day and saw that fractions were written on the board. He asked the class what they had learned about fractions. Alonte raised his hand and explained how to show a fraction in a picture. It was so adorable and I was so proud of him for remembering what we had learned. The principal proceeded to give a dumb lesson on which fraction is bigger which no one understood. However, I taught bigger fractions today and almost the whole class got it!
My worst student has never been better! ALL day today he was unbelievably incredible. He followed directions, finished his work, and never left the class, all very big successes for him. I think he finally believes I am on his side and I really do care about him. Even today he wouldn’t take off his hat and so when I finally got a chance to talk to him about it I found out that he was embarrassed because his hair was half braided. So I made a deal with him that he could tell me anyone who made fun of him and I would keep them at recess. He immediately took his hat off and the day continued without problems. Ah I wish I could explain in words how wonderful it was to have him behave the entire day.
Okay, best story of the week: In the morning my students come in and write in their journals. I have a journal prompt on the board to help them get started. Well, the other day my journal prompt was “If you found a pot of gold what would you do?” I got the usual I would buy a play station, a swimming pool, food, etc… Well I had two really cute entries, strangely enough the same two boys who got into the fight. One said, I wouldn’t pick it up. I would leave it there and try to find out whose it was. The other said, I would give some to the homeless, then I would give some to my mom and dad and then I would give some …and he made a small list of people he would give the gold to. He never once mentioned what he wanted. Too cute! I was laughing about it all day. They have the biggest hearts.
