Some days at school I want to scream, bang my head against the wall, pull my hair out, etc., etc. You know those days where you feel like everything that comes out of your mouth some how dissipates in the air before it reaches your students ears?
It is beyond frustrating and it happens a lot when you work with kids that have IEPs. Like when we are counting by hundreds (like we practice doing practically everyday) and they can't remember what comes after 90 (it's not ten hundred no matter how many times you tell me that). Or when you ask them what comes after 67 and they say 534 (which is technically true but not what I mean). It's enough to make any sane person crazy!
But then you have those days like I did yesterday where school is just plain FUN and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Like when you are talking to first graders (who are an increasingly challenging group to tolerate...that is putting it in the nicest way possible) about their favorite songs (I promise it was related to their story).
Someone said their favorite song was "Shake It For Me" by Luke Bryan, and I commented by saying that I like that song (it just so happened that it had been stuck in my head all morning), and I start singing it like I was in the car by myself. They thought it was hilarious that I even knew that song...like I was from another planet or something.
Someone else said they like Michael Jackson but they didn't know what song, so I started singing "Thriller" and doing the dance, and I'm pretty sure they thought I was insane.
Then someone said they liked Taylor Swift, and when I said I liked her too, they just couldn't believe it...So I broke out singing "We are never ever ever getting back together! Weeeeeeeeeeee!"
So when all else fails...in the words of Ludacris "Tell me whatcha gon' do? Act a fool"
Then there are the times when the kids are so stinking funny that you can't stop laughing.
Like when something makes a student laugh so hard they fart and it smells. Like SMELLS. And they are not afraid to hide it! (This was a girl by the way.) And I try my hardest not to laugh and to move on with the lesson, but it has already gone to s***. Literally.
You said it Louis!
Or when the sweetest little boy tells you that he woke up that morning to his cat "sleeping" on his bed. Except for it wasn't really sleeping he says. It was dead he says. And he touched it. And do I think he needs to go to the nurse now? Do I think he might be sick?
You just can't make this stuff up people!
So THAT...in a nutshell is why I love my job, and I get excited to go to school every day.
It also helps when those kids mentioned above that think 534 comes after 67 finally learn that 68 comes after 67. It's all worth it. :-)
You just can't make this stuff up people!
So THAT...in a nutshell is why I love my job, and I get excited to go to school every day.
It also helps when those kids mentioned above that think 534 comes after 67 finally learn that 68 comes after 67. It's all worth it. :-)
These are the joys of working with students. The bright spots that get you through the dark spots. Love these stories :)
ReplyDeletehaha, kids are so funny! Most of my family members are teachers and I love when they tell stories like this.
ReplyDeleteI loved this post so much! I taught English to this age group for a while after I moved to Korea and you really can't make up the stuff that they say.
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