little devils

so. well, it's been a few weeks now, and we've had some ups and downs. of course i'm the new teacher, and they're trying to test me a little bit - to see how far they can push me. and until last week i had felt like we were making improvements in a lot of ways. i felt like i had a better idea of how much we could cover in a class and what kinds of things we could do. and i sort of felt like they were starting to behave a little bit better.

well. my director had visited my "good" class a while ago. she had some really good feedback for me, but generally she thought i was doing pretty well, that i had a good rapport with the kids. she gave me some pointers and we arranged for her to visit my other class a few days later. my "bad" class.

so she shows up. and generally her thing is "don't even pay attention to me. this is your class, i'm not going to interrupt or try to contribute unless you ask me to". well it was near the end of the class and i had just handed out some quizzes. then i was trying to get everyone's attention to say a few more things and then off to recess. "trying" being the operative word in that sentence. they had actually started completely ignoring me. walking around, having their own conversations, general chaos. so she asks if she can say something. she actually yelled at my class. this is not how pan-american students behave. you are disrespecting your teacher. you're not listening. you're not being kind (some kids were kind of harassing other students to find out how they did on the quiz).

so i finished the class and the students left. and we talked. i was really, really frustrated. and thank god she was completely helpful and supportive. i continue to be frustrated, despite the fact that the behavior has generally improved since that incident. and somehow i still like my job. hmmm.

now yesterday i made my first student cry. oh yes. in my "good" class we were working in groups on a set of tasks about the book we're reading (the cricket in times square). most of the groups are mostly staying on task. one group of three boys (couldn't be avoided - we have more boys than girls in fourth grade) were being generally loud, disruptive, disturbing other groups, throwing bits of eraser (a very popular activity in fourth grade), a dictionary was thrown and ripped. after i had repeatedly talked with the group, tried to get them focused, asked them to quiet down, stop throwing things, i told them they were all getting conduct warnings.

these warnings need to be signed by myself and the student, and then brought home to be signed by the parents. at the end of class i wrote them and handed them out. two of the kids were clearly not happy (not that i think they were sorry about the behavior, they just didn't want to have to tell their parents). but the third. he's generally a good kid. talks to much and doesn't always pay attention. but mostly good. he actually starts crying when i give him the warning. sobbing on his chair. so i try to talk with him about how he was behaving, what did he think about the way he behaved, was that appropriate classroom behavior? he wouldn't talk.

then at recess i was accosted by a mob of my students - from both classes - they had the explanation. S. had told them that it was all F.'s fault - he had thrown things and ripped the dictionary - A. didn't deserve a warning, he's a good student. obviously i explained that this was not up for negotiation, but some of them still kept trying. slightly flustered, i figured it would be best to go speak with the pedagogue. i explained everything and she called the parents to explain before the kids got home. and that was that.

so story time is over (wow, this is a pretty long post). i'll leave you with a couple of pictures from my classrooms.


my 4A classroom. this is my homeroom. i did the rainbow bulletin board seen here. it's covered with their "mind maps".


i have the same board in 4B.


and this one i'm pretty proud of: in my homeroom again it says "shoot for the moon- even if you miss you'll land among the stars" and i have all of their names written on little stars. so cute. :P