Seriously, it feels like I'm not even in the room anymore. I'm the adult in the Peanuts comics going "wah wah wah wah wah wahhhhh." I literally opened my mouth - hadn't even started talking - and half the class started talking. I held it open in awe of what was happening before me. Is this normal? Because right now I feel like a crazy person. No matter how many times I tried to catch their attention today, it never seemed to fix itself. I tried positive reinforcement, I tried having a conversation with them about what we can do to make it better, I tried consequences...NOTHING HELPED. I was doomed from the beginning. They're getting antsy, and I feel so lost throughout the day.
Yup, doesn't seem to matter how many times I tell them. I've modeled. I've repeated. I've had them freeze. Turn their bodies. However, never fails.
"Little Bobby, why have you been sitting here doing nothing?"
"I didn't know what to do!"
*insert steam coming out of my ears and inner brain explosion*
Then I proceed to slowly, and carefully reexplain everything I had already repeated 3 times before.
Jimmy, turn around. Francine, stop talking. Betty Jo, ON your line spot, not next to. Becky, keep your hands off the white board. Nevermind, EVERYONE go back to the carpet to start over.
I frequently needed a pillow to scream into today. As my teammate coined, it was like bopping gophers.
My kids are increasingly losing things. Books, pencils, bathroom passes, their sanity...I mean, my sanity. They're both pretty gone. Anyways, I've had to make a deal with my class that if the bathroom passes aren't hanging by the door when we leave the room, that group (boys or girls) loses the privilege of using it. That results in them having to ask me every time they go to the bathroom, I may have made it harder on myself with that one, but they have to get it. My kids also know that if it is an emergency and they are about to wet their pants (insert giggles), then they may go to the bathroom if the bathroom pass is being used. Yet, here comes little Devin, "MS. KRASTIN I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM IT'S AN EMERGENCY." Now if this was once, I wouldn't be bothered. However, this has been just about every day. I have repeated that he may go and that I don't want him going to the bathroom on the floor. You'd think a joke like that would help them remember!
Spinning in place? Check. Crawling across the floor? Check. Jumping up to hit hanging posters? Check. Laying under tables? Check. I'm waiting for one of them to stand on their head or jump on the table Robin William's style and revolt. Maybe an elephant makes its way through the door. You never know.
Kiddo, I am right next to you. We locked eyes as I said it. Seconds before you just did it. Yeah, you're done.
It's like that part where the whole house is covered in jungle vines and trees and it's hard to find your way around. Somehow tables are 90 degrees from where they should be and there's a misplaced chair when everyone is sitting in one already.
Last but not least, I leave you with my favorite:
Goodnight.
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