I hear people talk.
They are concerned about the state of the world. Money's tight. Jobs are being lost. Families are fractured. 40% of children born in America in 2007 were born out of wedlock.
Teachers have noticed a change. It seems like parents have zoned out with regard to their children and their school. Carnivals are being canceled or radically scaled back due to a lack of parent volunteers. Conference appointments are skipped. Communication has become one way, school to home.
Children, predictably, have changed. These days, it's hard for a teacher to get two sentences out without having a student interject whatever is on their mind. Common good sense and manners have evaporated. Children care just as much and are just as willing to help; however, they seem more oblivious to those around them. Teachers are becoming more and more frustrated and worn. Year-round school schemes seem like some premeditated form of teacher torture to me.
Yesterday, one of my children got angry. He didn't want to do the assignment I gave him. His initial response to the assignment was to clutch his pencil so hard that his fingers turned ghost-white. Then he scribbled over his paper-tearing it. Next, he balled the paper up. Then he threw his pencil to the front of the room nicely. Following that, he threw a crayon bit at me-hitting me in the back. He followed that up with a crayon tossed at one of his classmates. Then he got up and walked calmly to the thirteen gallon trash can(medium size) in the front of the room. He stopped in front of it, stared at it for a moment before stepping calmly into it. Squiggling down, he managed to contort his body in such a manner that he fit snugly inside crouched in a fetal position. After about two or three minutes, he slinked out and crawled to the back of the room. Along the way, he extracted a tennis ball from the bottom of a classroom chair (we use old tennis balls on the feet of chairs to keep them the chairs from scratching the floor wax). As he headed for the back corner of my room, he threw the tennis ball at another student.
I don't know what caused this child to get angry and sit in my trashcan. He gets angry sometimes. In fact, he gets angry a lot of times. I teach on raw eggs around him. Until yesterday, however, my trashcan has always just contained trash.
They are concerned about the state of the world. Money's tight. Jobs are being lost. Families are fractured. 40% of children born in America in 2007 were born out of wedlock.
Teachers have noticed a change. It seems like parents have zoned out with regard to their children and their school. Carnivals are being canceled or radically scaled back due to a lack of parent volunteers. Conference appointments are skipped. Communication has become one way, school to home.
Children, predictably, have changed. These days, it's hard for a teacher to get two sentences out without having a student interject whatever is on their mind. Common good sense and manners have evaporated. Children care just as much and are just as willing to help; however, they seem more oblivious to those around them. Teachers are becoming more and more frustrated and worn. Year-round school schemes seem like some premeditated form of teacher torture to me.
Yesterday, one of my children got angry. He didn't want to do the assignment I gave him. His initial response to the assignment was to clutch his pencil so hard that his fingers turned ghost-white. Then he scribbled over his paper-tearing it. Next, he balled the paper up. Then he threw his pencil to the front of the room nicely. Following that, he threw a crayon bit at me-hitting me in the back. He followed that up with a crayon tossed at one of his classmates. Then he got up and walked calmly to the thirteen gallon trash can(medium size) in the front of the room. He stopped in front of it, stared at it for a moment before stepping calmly into it. Squiggling down, he managed to contort his body in such a manner that he fit snugly inside crouched in a fetal position. After about two or three minutes, he slinked out and crawled to the back of the room. Along the way, he extracted a tennis ball from the bottom of a classroom chair (we use old tennis balls on the feet of chairs to keep them the chairs from scratching the floor wax). As he headed for the back corner of my room, he threw the tennis ball at another student.
I don't know what caused this child to get angry and sit in my trashcan. He gets angry sometimes. In fact, he gets angry a lot of times. I teach on raw eggs around him. Until yesterday, however, my trashcan has always just contained trash.
No comments:
Post a Comment