Except this poison doesn't kill you, it just makes you want to retire from teaching at age 29.
I had four students in this group. I've recently added a fifth. On "Adam's" first day, Thing One argued with my every direction (or just flat out said "no"). Thing Two loves to feed off of Thing One and thought the whole thing was hysterical. Thing Two shut down when he got some sad face tally marks. Thing One laughed loud and long to show he didn't care about sad faces.
And Adam looked on.
When Thing Two didn't get his first choice of activity for Daily 5, he decided that the best solution was to hide under the table and intermittently shout "NO" .... for an hour!
Folks, this exact same kind of behavior from those two students happened for THREE DAYS IN A ROW. For three days, Thing Two collapsed into a pile of refusal and I had to get another adult in there to entice him to move to his next class. Thing One continued to loudly protest every direction and every activity at every opportunity.
I did my best to teach despite it all.
I ended the week on Friday with Thing Two in full meltdown mode, yelling from his new hiding place:
Tell me ..... where can I hide from first grade?
10 comments:
We will need to pray for you 2x/day now! We are praying that the LORD will give you the necessary wisdom and perseverance EVERY moment in the classroom. Proud of you. dad
I don't know how you do it. At least when my kids are monsters I can punish them. Are these kids having behavior problems because of developmental issues, or are they just being turds? Either way - Hang in there!!
Unbelievable! I never really thought about how much stress teachers go through when dealing with behavior problems. I would be tied up in knots every morning when I woke up and knew I had to face another day!!!
Hang in there. You must be a very patient lady! :)
Hugs & Prayers.
I think teachers need a time out chair.
Preferably equipped with a margarita bar & an masseuse.
Yikes!!
I feel your pain!!! I love hearing your real issues from your blog. I work in a school where issues like this are everyday life...sad but true. We seem to have a large number of "runners"! Hang in there!
Where can YOU hide?? Tell the kid under the rug to move over!! "This too shall pass." eventually! Love you, Mom
Nice hiding spot!
Do you have anyone (like a social worker or crisis teacher or something) who helps you handle it when kids are freaking out? Or are you just on your own?
Wow.. you must have such a tough job some days. Props to you for dealing with it all. I don't think I'd be strong enough to be a teacher
Ugh...I can relate. I work in a behavioral classroom, and some days it is just awful. It's frustrating with some to just never know what will set them off. Hang in there...we're almost to Winter Break?!
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