Well, today will be a day I never forget. Ever. There were so many awesome moments today. Shelia brought in snacks for the rest of the class. I baked some delicious cookies. The majority of the class got regrouping - serious break through!!! But then again, there are the struggles we see every day. Hey there, real life. The craziness that happened today.. can only be explained by a full moon.
Katie asked me a few weeks ago when her uncle could be out of jail. This made me think maybe he is involved in dealing drugs or some type of illegal activity. This morning she told me she was having a bad morning. I asked her what happened. She proceeded to explain that her aunt was murdered in downtown Nashville last night. She gave me explicit details about the murder. Her aunt was taken from her home, beaten and then shot. Apparently the police are on the hunt for this person now. Contacted social worker for the first time today.
We went through centers, did our thing and in the middle of our reading assessment, Francie started yelling our my name over and over again. In a firm tone, told her that I don't yell "Francie! Francie! Francie! until she answers." This happens regularly, and we practice as a class raising their hand and waiting until I come to them. Well, Francie put her head down and started to cry. She proceeded to bawl for the next 15-20 minutes. I attempted to calm her down by explaining why I used that tone. As time ticks away, I threaten that she will get a zero if she does not complete her exam. As time ticks away, I realize that she will not move. SHE WILL NOT BUDGE. I drag her chair toward the door and she gets up and crosses her arms and refuses to move but continues to wimper. I tell her that her bad decisions are causing the rest of the students to miss art class. All of the boys and girls are clearly upset because they have missed their bathroom break and the first 10 minutes of art class. Mind you, this ordeal has gone on for almost 35 minutes. Even Joshua walks up to Francie and tells her that she is making bad decisions. I tell Francie that she has two options: she can continue to act like a baby and I'll get Dr. C to come out here or she can get in line with the rest of the class. Joshua tells Francie that he had a red star in kindergarten and it was the scariest experience of his life. She does not move. I tell her that because I care about her, I'll call her mother first. She refuses to get on the phone with her mother. Her mother requests to come out to school to talk to her. I finally call the Art teacher and she walks over and gets my children from my classroom. Francie's mom shows up and Francie refuses to talk to her, too. I explain that her behavior is completely unacceptable. She asks to take her home. I tell her that I prefer she stays and apologizes for her actions. She does not say a word. I tell her that on Monday, I expect an apology to me and the other students for wasting so much learning time. They leave in silence.
Now, I realize I should have called Dr. C, but I thought that an unresponsive child was not worth an emergency phone call. After school, Dr. C said next time I should call him because so much instructional time was wasted. Apparently, even if I had called him, he was too busy with two other ridiculous situations.
A kindergarten went crazy and physically attacked his teacher. She called for the principals and then the 5-year old went ballistic and attacked our 6-foot-7 black principal. The child was eventually restrained, but talk about out of control.
During lunch, Trent (Amanda's crazy student that was moved into a male teacher's class because he was throwing out of control tantrums and hurting himself and others) went crazy today. Literally crazy. He told his teacher that two people in his head were screaming at each other and he started to cut his wrists with a scissor in the middle of class. No one noticed the cutting until a student next to him was splattered with blood. Needless to say, the authorities were called and he was restrained. They are seeking psychiatric services and trying to put him in an alternative school.
At the end of the day, I laughed. A lot. I battled with a seven year old and lost. Police had to hospitalize a child. A five year old went nuts-so. One of my students will grow up faster than she needs to. So, I laugh. It's the only thing we can do sometimes. Here's to the weekend... and working my ass off for these kids.
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