So I walked in the classroom this morning that I've been "affectionately" calling the "messy desk" class only to find that it was SPOTLESS! All the furniture had been re-arranged, the cubbies were tidy, the teacher's desk was cleared off, the closet was organized, the white board was cleaned, the floor had been swept, the carpet vacuumed, the shelves were neat - it was a COMPLETE opposite! I'm wondering...is this the same class?! Oh, yes, it is.
Actually, the day wasn't horrible. I've definitely had worse. But that's not to say that it was wonderful. There were about 5 boys who were all very energetic and always out of their seats, goofing off, or bugging each other. One was clearly the ring-leader. I learned later in the day that he is usually on medication, but he didn't take it today. Joy. He missed most of his recesses because I made him stay in with me. And at the end of the day the teacher came into the room (thankfully, it was at a moment where they were mostly under control) and he took him out in the hallway and talked to him, and then kept him and 2 other boys in the room when I took the class out to their final recess.
There were a lot of good kiddos though, and I tried to avoid punishing them along with their classmates. At first I wasn't going to take them out to recess because of the naughty ones, but then I changed my mind and made the naughty ones sit out and watch while the others played. It worked much better. And at the end of the day I cut up some sheets of smiley-face stickers and gave a couple to all of the kids who had made it onto my "on-task" list. They seemed really pleased with that, so if I ever end up going there again, hopefully they'll remember that I'm not a total meanie. Last time they seemed to find me a bit annoying, but at the end of the day today some of them (the nice ones) told me that I was the best substitute because I was nice to them. So it wasn't all horrible this time. I'm not jumping at the chance to go back, but I think I could survive.
A Long Long Sleep
12 years ago
2 comments:
Congratulations on surviving another day in the trenches. It's nice you could let the good kids still have some fun. I used to feel sorry for the nice kids in a class with several brats who often ruined activities. You remember your own 2nd grade class? Tomorrow is Friday!
Love you!!! MOM
So, who did the cleaning I wonder? Did the teacher come in at night to straighten up or do you have a fairy god mother? Maybe little elves hide under the desks and work their magic when the lights go out. Glad the day wasn't completely horrible. Here's hoping for a happy Monday tomorrow.
Rhonda
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