The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher. ~Elbert Hubbard
When you go into teaching and get into your own classroom, you KNOW there are things that are going to happen that your college did not teach you.
For example: How to unclog a glue bottle in under 30 seconds....how to rush a child out of the room quickly and quietly when they peed in their pants...how to handle decide who gets what snack.
But they especially do not teach you how to handle bratty mean eight year old girls.
This week I have heard from several students "There's some mean words on the bathroom wall....It's about (blank)...You need to check this out..." And their mean words are like, "Shut up" Or "Elephant Head." So I finally take a gander today after school what is written on our bathroom wall. Yes, students write on the walls but it's normally like, "Hey!" or "Joe wuz here."
Oh no. My bathroom walls said POOP and (BLANK) IS A #$!&* and LET GOD BE ARAISE (whatever that means). I mean have you ever heard of such???
My mouth droopped. First of all, POOP. Seriously?? Yes we all take a poop but there's no need to advertise that unless it helped you focus on completing the task of pooping.
Secondly, CUSS WORDS?? I didn't even know how to spell that when I was 8. And someone signed another child's name along with it which mean they were trying to frame that child. This is not the first time that phrase has been brought up in my class. I've found notes and other writings in the class. At least my lower kids can barely read so they dont know what the words mean.
Thirdly, GOD BE ARAISE?? What the heck does that mean? Someone wrote that on my cute recyling posters!! I guess they felt like God needed to take presence in the bathroom since that nasty writing has consumed my bathroom walls. Yeah, God, please consume that nasty wall and that nasty pee infected smell.
I am at lost how to handle this. I know girls are nasty and mean because hello, I am one. But I have tried to talk to individual girls about their attitude, behavior, actions...I have talked to the whole class about it. And I have it narrowed down to like 4 or 5 people....but I can never catch them in the act. Some do a lot behind my back that I can't prove or catch. Last year my girls were not this bad. I guess because they were all new kids to the school so they didn't know anyone. We all became "friends" somewhat. But I guess since I got the "true" Roebuck kids they know about one another and what they can get away with.
I want my kids to get along. It is killing me that they are vandalizing my walls, being nasty to one another, and forming cliques. How do you handle this situation? I know "Be positive...encourage good decisions and choices" and I do all that. But does it ever stop? Will it ever end?
No it won't because of the world we live in, the families we have, and the society we're raising our students in. And I know "I can make a difference because I'm a teacher" blah blah blah. But tell me--how do you get your kids to stop writing on the walls? Calling each other these names?
Please I'm up for suggestions.
And if I have to scrub one more wall, I am going to have a throw down. Hard core.
1 comment:
First, I love your background!
You need to come check out my school...
A fifth grade boy pulled out his penis (not in my class, but his homeroom) and urinated on another kids book bag because he was angry or something, then when sent to the office proceeded to flick his teacher off walking down the hall.
Now praise God you don't have kids like that!
I think all of this is just a result of living in a fallen world. A wonderful teacher gave me the best advise ever today. She is a Christian as well and she knows I am getting discouraged with all of the behavior probs in our school and this is what she told me, "Every day come in and ask God to send his angels in your room to fight for your students."
You know this is the best advise I probably have ever had. I haven't tried it yet and of course no matter what I pray my day will never go perfect, but I thought, "wow I pray that my students see Jesus through me and that they see that I love them and want them to succeed, but I never ask God for help and to send, angels (warriors) on my behalf."
I think too often as teachers we are too dependent on our own strength and that is just our world's mentality. And I think as Christians we often doubt the power of prayer.
We are taught in education classes to evaluate and reflect and see what we are doing wrong as teachers, but often the problems that go on are not always in our control because we live in a sinful and fallen world. Remember there is a spiritual battle going on in your classroom, so we must pray fervently. I hope this wise teacher's words are as encouraging for you as they were for me!
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