I want to take this opportunity (of me being in a good mood) to write some of the positive things to note about this long-term sub position. Surprisingly I have been in an excellent mood today... in spite of it not being a great day. While I have mostly had feelings of ... oh my gosh, seriously? Followed by... God help me, I want to run away and quit...There have also been some enjoyable moments -such as these:
Today, one of my seriously ADHD kids took her medicine at home, came up to me this morning, smiled, and said "Mrs. Henderson, I took my medicine today! I'm going to have a good day!" And she did! She was on task, focused, working hard, and following directions all day and it made me happy for her (and my sanity). Also at the end of the day... because no matter WHAT ON EARTH I TRY, my room looks like a tornado hit, this same girl ran back into our classroom and started picking up papers off the floor and said "Mrs. Henderson, I want to clean up so you can go home and have time with your family today." And it was sweet in how genuine she was being in wanting to help me out. Unfortunately we were late (like always) for dismissal... so I did spend forever cleaning up my room... but it was super sweet how she wanted to help and I loved what she said.
On these positive notes... last Friday was probably the best day I've had with my class so far! (At least for the first half of the day... but hey, that's progress!) The class as a whole was focused, on task, and following directions... SO much so, that guess what? -We had 3 minutes of extra recess! Count them... 1, 2, 3 whole extra minutes of time. That's a big deal. Seriously. As normally we are late and have a shorter recess due to not following directions, on Friday, we were so on task, we got done with 3 extra minutes, and the kids and I loved it! That was a wonderful morning : )
Also on Friday... this was later in the day (not during our awesome time) when I was beyond frustrated and they would not stop talking, moving, or doing just whatever they wanted to do. It finally got to the point where the class was starting to quiet and settle down... then someone would say something... then they'd settle down -then someone would say something... I think you get picture of the endless cycle. Well within all that, one girl made some comment -and another girl quickly replied back "Hush up, you old lady you!" And oh my goodness. I immediately lost my serious, straight face. It was just too much. I started laughing and couldn't stop. The way the girl said it and the timing was just... priceless. In the middle of a super frustrating time trying to manage the class, she said this totally unexpected, random comment... and I couldn't stop laughing. Of course then the kids started laughing as well and one of them says, "Finally! Mrs. Henderson you're having fun at school!" -And that comment made me realize I need to try and have some fun with them and be a little more lighthearted occasionally. I mean really. Sometimes it's hard to remember they're just kids when they are so disrespectful, disobedient, and manipulative... but when you see them running around at recess pretending to be birds and dinosaurs and such, it reminds me they are still just little kids.
My last positive comment to mention that is something small that I love... the title of this post. I guess this is their current kid saying. "You just got TOLD by a teacher!" It's the best! I try to hide my smile every time I hear it. This saying comes around when some student is not following directions and usually talking back, then I make a comment back to them... I guess putting them in their place and/or catching them up in something they said... and then another student goes "Ooh! You just got TOLD by a teacher!" And the problem kid quiets down because... I won. Lol... that is something small that I truly love.
So all this to say there are some things I really am enjoying about this teaching experience! There are still a majority of moments that I do want to tell them 'adios' and literally walk out the door to never see them again lol... but sometimes I remember they are kids and we are able to have fun together, and it makes it a wonderful and enjoyable day. Only 17 more school days left! Whoop! Hopefully we'll have more of these positive days than negative ones to wrap up my time with these kiddos.
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