It's been awhile since I last posted. I just had to share a small victory that occurred for me today. Last week, I was so beyond frustrated with my students. Students were grumpy, apathetic, falling asleep, not answering questions. I had to write two referrals for insubordinate behavior. I was ready to tear my hair out, or quit, or throw a chair out the classroom window. Really any of those felt reasonable to me last week. As I usually do, I took the weekend to get over it so I could start fresh on Monday.
Here's how today went down: The worst apathy last week was in my 1st hour. Today, I laid down the law with them. I told them that we have only 3 days of class this week, and only 3 weeks when we get back from the break, and I need them to buckle down and get it together. I made it clear I would not accept shenanigans. I hate having to do this, but I have to say: it worked. They mostly stayed focused and tried to do take part in the class. In my 2nd hour class, I spoke to one of the girls who had been defiant last week. She had been defiant about her phone - and was trying to play the same game with me today. I made it very clear this would not be accepted, and would probably result in another referral. I ended up taking her phone away from her at one point because she could not stop taking it out. For the rest of class, she actually did her work and stay focused. She came up to me at the end of class to get her phone. I was expecting sass, but instead, she said, "Can you start keeping my phone at your desk everyday? I got more work done today." I was shocked, but happily agreed. 4th hour was a bit insane, but hey - I'm proud of my small victories. I think focusing on these little things will help me to keep my positivity and hopefulness.
Maybe I'm "growing up" as a teacher!
