Day Seven: Get Down

Sometimes when a student is upset, you take them out in the hallway. Not because they are in trouble, but to talk to them and find out what is going on. One of my students had her head down on the table. She's VERY hyper. When I go over, she pretends that she's crying, then laughs, then says her dog died, etc, etc, etc. So I went out in the hallway to talk to her...and she climbs up on the window to watch people outside on the field. I kept asking her questions to see if she was making up the story about her dog. (I think she is, but I played along). When she did come down she sat down in a corner created by a pillar and sulked. I talked to another teacher that has her and trying to get any pointers on working with her. Lots of redirection. I'm going to try to have an assigned seat for her tomorrow and check on her more frequently until she gets going with her work.

I listened to a student who was sick call his mom and ask her to pick him up. He was so upset that she wouldn't come, he threatened to do something so he would get kicked out of class so she would have to come. It was so heartbreaking to see him before and after that call, feeling like no one cared about him. I let him pace around the room and look through some magazines hoping it would keep him from exploding. These kids need to know that someone cares about them, especially when they feel like their parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles/foster parents don't.

While the students were cleaning up (wow art projects make a huge mess) I turned on some music. The students LOVE this song called Southside. I had some of them show me the dance that goes with it. Hey, you gotta bond with your students any way you can. Show that you're interested in what interests them. Okay, maybe not any way. But they do get excited when they get to be the ones who show you something.

Also had a total "Doh!" moment today. I was heading back to my classroom to drop off the container from my lunch when I ran into another teacher who said, "Hey, we missed you at the meeting." Ugh. So embarrassing. I totally spaced it. Where is my brain today?

Today was the first day I had a student lead the entire school in the pledge of allegiance. All the students meet in the cafeteria in the morning, so everyone sees the student who is leading. So proud. Another read a quote for the day. Actually, it was the girl who was climbing later in the day. I chose one by Cesar Chavez, which got her very excited. "We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own."