Today one of my boys was having a little girl trouble. So his friends enlisted my help as I am a girl. His friends were teasing him about being scared to ask her for her number. His excuse was he couldn't get it then because I'd lock him out of the room and give him a detention for being tardy from lunch. I told him that he had a few minutes to go talk to the girl. We were coming back from lunch so we had a few minutes to spare. He goes next door while the other class was using the restroom. I sent my spies to see what was going on. The report they gave was bad. He was talking to the girl's friend and not the girl. I went down to the classroom and witnessed it for myself. I called his name and told him to get the phone number. He gave me the "I'm working on it" look. After about a minute or 2 I told him to come back to class. I asked him if he got the number and sadly he did not. *palm to forehead* This is where, according to him, I turned into his mother. I went down to her class and asked to see her. I told her that Bob* wanted to talk to her about something. He died a little on the inside. I walked off expecting them to talk. Yeah, he didn't talk to her. He talked to the teacher standing there. *big sigh* When he made it back to the room he proceeded to tell me that I was acting like his mother and had embarrassed him. LOL. After class he came running back in the room with a piece of paper with a number on it. He got the number. According to his friends he didn't get the number; her friend gave it to him. My kids... They bring me much joy.
Last week we had the reality fair at our school. The reality fair is where they basically give the kids a glimpse of the real world or life after high school. They are given a salary and jobs based on their GPAs and are required to buy a house, pay bills, buy a car and groceries; basically do what adults do. At the end of the "month" if they have money left, they get a Payday candy bar. If they have no money left they get a Zero candy bar. It's a really good real life connector and the kids usually come away from it with a better understanding of why school is so important. My repeaters were given the opportunity to go again because obviously they didn't get it the 1st time. I was passing out their sheets with their info on it and I ran across one GPA that just really caught me off guard. Y'all ready for this? One of my repeaters currently has a......
0.38!!!
How the heck do you have a 0.38 GPA?! What do you do at school everyday? Why do you come to school? I'm hoping there was a mistake in the calculation of her GPA because that doesn't make any doggone sense. Her monthly salary was $800. She won't make it...
Today my Asperger's kid told the story of Job to the class. They listen so intently when he speaks. It's really cute. We were reading Night by Elie Wiesel, which is about the holocaust. The main character made a reference to Job in the Bible. I figured my kids didn't know who Job was so they couldn't make the connection. However, I asked the class anyway if anybody knew about Job. One kid told me he led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the land of milk and honey. Wrong Bible character kid. Anyway, my Asperger's kid gave the right answer. His other teachers are always so shocked to hear that he speaks in front of the class. Apparently my class is the only class he does that in. It's probably because I make him talk. LOL
That brings me to my next thought for the day. At the beginning of each new school year teachers are told not to smile until December. We're told that because apparently there's a connection between smiling and weakness. Yeah, I thought it was silly too. I start the year off with a smile so I can smile all year. As a teacher, you have to develop a relationship with your kids. I have a relationship with my kids. That's why I was able to kid around with the kid from the first paragraph. He thought it was funny and so did his classmates. I can count on my kids to take care of me or do what they can if/when I need them. When I go to the grocery store, they carry my groceries out, even if it's just 1 or 2 bags. When I'm out the eat, they give me their discounts. At school, they hold doors open for me, offer to carry my lunch box because it looks heavy, ask me if I'm having a good day, ask me what's wrong if I look like I'm having a bad day then ask who did it so they can go beat them up. LOL. Even if I tell my kids I'm ok and the situation has been handled, they want to know what happened to make sure it's handled. My kids know what I expect of them and they act accordingly. I don't do anything special in my classroom other than care about my kids and teach them. Are my kids perfect all the time? Heck no. Are they perfect when they need to be? Yup! It annoys me when I hear my coworkers talking about their kids being hellions, not doing this or that for them, not buying them Christmas presents, etc. I want to ask them so bad what is it that they're doing for their kids. Last I checked we're there for them not vice versa. You have to give in order to receive. Let me get off my soapbox. I'll be here all night.
22 school days until spring break! Oo wa! Oo wa!
No comments:
Post a Comment