Well, last time I posted I had had a good week celebrating Dr. Seuss and Day 100 and reading fun. After that, things got back to the usual, and I have had two not so great weeks. Wednesday of this week I actually called horrible, which I haven't said too many times in my teaching experience thus far.
One of my students (I'll call him Marcus) was a total mess this week. He started coming to school from daycare and then leaving with a daycare worker instead of coming and going with his mom. So I didn't see his mom all week. Plus he was late two days (his first tardies this year). No one looked in his folder all week. He didn't do his homework for the first time all year. I'm pretty positive no one saw the notes I sent home. I called his mom and left a message, but she never called me back. And he was basically non-functional in the classroom. He'd get to school and within 10 minutes, he's shove someone and then start yelling and crying and kicking, and eventually fully freaking out. I'd have to send him out of the room, and then he'd come back eventually and do it again. Each morning he'd come in talking about how he hadn't gotten sleep the night before cause he shares a bed with his brother and he took all the covers. (He is my sleep deprived student to begin with...so multiply that by about 10.)
What's extra sad about Marcus is that he was the Student of the Month for February. I picked him because he'd improved so much from the beginning of the year. He hadn't thrown any kind of tantrum for about two months, and he was being really helpful and nice to the other students. I was so excited to get to choose him and was very proud of him. Since then, he's gone and had one pretty bad week and one really, really bad week.
It's really frustrating for me. And it's sad. I know he is a wonderful, kind, and intelligent child. I don't know what is going on with him, and I don't know how to help him. I know he has a rough home life. And I am almost certain something has changed at home that is contributing to his anger and confusion and tiredness. But he's not able to articulate much about that or how he's feeling or what's upsetting him because he's too angry and he's just five. So bottom line: I don't know what to do. I've tried talking to the people who are basically like our administration. But I think I need to keep nagging them if I want something to really happen. But I don't even know what I want them to do. I really hope and pray next week will be better for him for my sake and the class' sake (his outbursts really, really throw a few of the other children off), but mostly for his sake. There is something so fundamentally wrong about seeing a five year-old so angry and aggressive and unable to cope. Lots of little kids (especially ones I've worked with!) throw tantrums and cry and steal other kids' toys. But this is completely different. And it really, really just weighs heavy on me.
So please pray for Marcus and for me to know how to help him and reach out to his family.
In other news, I told Rob I'd definitely be staying at Urban Promise for another year. And I think I have a roommate to move in to the apartment when Kaitlin moves out in June. So next steps are getting a car and figuring out what grade I want to teach. Kindergarten again? Pros: I've taught it for 2 years, I know the curriculum, I've prepared a lot of units and material. Cons: I think it might make me insane, I don't know if I can deal with crazy, tantrum-throwing, unable to reason children who have accidents at nap time for another year, and some of the current Pre-K-ers are a major handful.
(Note: I may be being overly harsh about kindergarten at the moment. But like I said, I had two pretty bad weeks.)
One of my students (I'll call him Marcus) was a total mess this week. He started coming to school from daycare and then leaving with a daycare worker instead of coming and going with his mom. So I didn't see his mom all week. Plus he was late two days (his first tardies this year). No one looked in his folder all week. He didn't do his homework for the first time all year. I'm pretty positive no one saw the notes I sent home. I called his mom and left a message, but she never called me back. And he was basically non-functional in the classroom. He'd get to school and within 10 minutes, he's shove someone and then start yelling and crying and kicking, and eventually fully freaking out. I'd have to send him out of the room, and then he'd come back eventually and do it again. Each morning he'd come in talking about how he hadn't gotten sleep the night before cause he shares a bed with his brother and he took all the covers. (He is my sleep deprived student to begin with...so multiply that by about 10.)
What's extra sad about Marcus is that he was the Student of the Month for February. I picked him because he'd improved so much from the beginning of the year. He hadn't thrown any kind of tantrum for about two months, and he was being really helpful and nice to the other students. I was so excited to get to choose him and was very proud of him. Since then, he's gone and had one pretty bad week and one really, really bad week.
It's really frustrating for me. And it's sad. I know he is a wonderful, kind, and intelligent child. I don't know what is going on with him, and I don't know how to help him. I know he has a rough home life. And I am almost certain something has changed at home that is contributing to his anger and confusion and tiredness. But he's not able to articulate much about that or how he's feeling or what's upsetting him because he's too angry and he's just five. So bottom line: I don't know what to do. I've tried talking to the people who are basically like our administration. But I think I need to keep nagging them if I want something to really happen. But I don't even know what I want them to do. I really hope and pray next week will be better for him for my sake and the class' sake (his outbursts really, really throw a few of the other children off), but mostly for his sake. There is something so fundamentally wrong about seeing a five year-old so angry and aggressive and unable to cope. Lots of little kids (especially ones I've worked with!) throw tantrums and cry and steal other kids' toys. But this is completely different. And it really, really just weighs heavy on me.
So please pray for Marcus and for me to know how to help him and reach out to his family.
In other news, I told Rob I'd definitely be staying at Urban Promise for another year. And I think I have a roommate to move in to the apartment when Kaitlin moves out in June. So next steps are getting a car and figuring out what grade I want to teach. Kindergarten again? Pros: I've taught it for 2 years, I know the curriculum, I've prepared a lot of units and material. Cons: I think it might make me insane, I don't know if I can deal with crazy, tantrum-throwing, unable to reason children who have accidents at nap time for another year, and some of the current Pre-K-ers are a major handful.
(Note: I may be being overly harsh about kindergarten at the moment. But like I said, I had two pretty bad weeks.)
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