I had to keep two students after school today so that we could have a discussion on respect and cooperation. Why do the worst moments of my day always happen in the last 10 minutes of class? Is there some scientific formula to this madness?
He called her, “Idiot.” She yelled and screamed at him first.
Or so that’s what they say.
It’s hard to follow stories. Especially the stories kids tell. It’s always, “He did this!” or “She did that!” What’s a teacher to do?
It doesn’t matter who did what. You worry about yourself. Make sure you are making the right choices. So that when someone else makes the wrong one, you can know for sure deep down that it wasn’t your fault; it wasn’t something you said or did, because you worried about yourself and made sure you made the right choices. You can only do this if you worry about yourself first.
You can’t change the way people feel. Better let them do just what they will.
In these moments where I have to be the adult, I have to be the patient grown-up…sometimes I almost lose it. Sometimes I just want to hug them because I don’t know what it is that’s hurting them to make them come to school and behave this way.
I believe that when a child comes to school with poor behavior and poor attitude, it is never inherently the child’s fault. It’s coming from somewhere else.
In this case, it’s coming from bullies. Bullies who were NOT in the classroom with me after school today.
And that’s another story for another day.
Sometimes I forget how hard it is to be a 6th grader. Then I have days like this, and I’m reminded all too soon, and all too painfully.
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