To Teach or Not to Teach?

Not to teach.

At least, that's what I've managed to do all day. Actually, I take that back, I taught for fifteen minutes early this morning. Then, it was off to library and computers, then after that it was an hour-long assembly until lunch. After lunch, five of my kids went off to science (science is a pullout at my school); two kids were absent, so that left three kids to work with my aide at phonemic awareness games. And that left me free to do exactly twenty minutes of testing, and an hour of paperwork. Then recess, pack up and go home. Oddly, I managed to be tired at the end of the day anyway!

Even when I'm not teaching, there's all the managing of little bodies. And those little bodies can get on your nerves when you're trying to get paperwork done. We've been studying Martin Luther King Jr in honor of his holiday on Monday. We've been talking about fairness and respect, and how MLK Jr made the world a better place by using his words. But it seems that the only thing my kids can remember about his life (or want to talk about) is that he was shot. At the library this morning, they all wanted books about MLK Jr. I was proud of them for their interest... but for the rest of the day, they didn't at all try to read the words on the page, they just kept flipping to the end of the book, pointing to the pictures and saying "He die right?". Again and again, my paperwork would get interrupted by little voices coming up to me "Mrs. B, Mrs. B, he die right?" I thought I was going to lose it. Finally I said (and this is pretty much verbatim) "YES, I KNOW, I TOLD YOU THAT. Now go back to your seats and read QUIETLY. Silent reading means QUIET, remember? Remember?".

Despite the capital letters, I didn't actually yell, but I think my voice must have had an edge to it because they scrambled back to their desks. Finally.

But I love my kids, I really do. I love how excited they get over nothing--like when it was overcast today, or when they got to take home miniature police badges after the assembly this morning, or when they're actually disappointed there's no school this Monday ;). Ha!