and the bags under my eyes are UNREAL. I ran out of contacts so I’ve been wearing glasses every day, and that’s great because the shadows from the frames hide the bags and make it look like I might, you know, be a trustworthy person who’s competent enough to teach some kids. I just got new contacts and my new goal is to eradicate under-eye circles. Hopefully the holiday weekend will help, but ten-hour workdays (when I’m really on top of everything – otherwise they’re longer) are starting to take their toll.
The first two weeks of kindergarten were relatively smooth. We have one kid who pulls frequent temper tantrums (“take your finger out of your mouth and go put hand sanitzer on.” “I WANT MY MOMMY”) and one kid who was literally hanging onto his mom’s ankles outside the school building, but mostly the kids were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and in awe of the concept of school. They followed directions and did what they were supposed to.
Then the shock wore off in the third week. They also started to make friends with each other, which means that now all they do is talktalktalk and life is infinitely more difficult. They’re more comfortable with us, which means that they feel like they can talk out or run in the hallway.
My co-teacher was gone for the day last Friday, and for the second half of the day on Thursday, and having the class to myself was an interesting experience. I definitely need to work on, essentially, inspiring the fear of God in these children – they don’t fear me the same way that they fear my co-teacher, and I think it’s because she’s the one who leads most of the transitions and gives the stern talking-to’s when they’re out of line. I’m getting better at delivering instruction, and it’s nice that I can focus on that for right now, but I’m going to take over as the lead teacher in the classroom when she goes on maternity leave and at this point I’m a little worried about how that’s going to go down.
One student came in on Monday and said “my mom’s getting married so I can’t come to school!” and I asked her when that was happening and she said “in two years!” I talked to the mom later that day and apparently the wedding was on Thursday – substantially less than two years from Monday.
I had a bad cold early this week and I was coughing while I was teaching. One kid said “you make me sick!” and I was ready to give him a hell of a talking to about respect when he said “my dad’s in the hospital and I’m worried about germs.” Oh.
In math meeting one student told me that “one thing I know about clouds is that they poop snow.”
I love these kids, and sometimes I want to yell at them and leave and go cry but mostly I love them a whole hell of a lot.
I ditched the prizes for my 2nd graders at the beginning of my 2nd year. They could only buy pencils and erasers with their tickets. They could also buy things like choosing their class job, computer time, first in the lunch line, etc. It worked really well (plus, I didn’t go broke buying silly toys). This year, I have 25 5th graders (so far – I’m expecting more by the end of the 9 weeks). Their reward for a week of good behavior is free time on Friday. I’ve been using techniques from a book called Setting Limits in the Classroom, and it works well.
That being said, consistency and confidence is key. Don’t be afraid that the children won’t “like” you. They need structure and consistency (especially little ones like kindergartners). Don’t be afraid to lay down the law in a firm, but positive tone. They’ll get the message…hang in there!