Stories from a 5th grade teacher~

[Blue Jay]

I don't blame you though it could be a girl you never know. XD Hope you find the owner though. *nods head*

[Mousy]

I do know because it was a new kid and there was only 1 new boy in the class in question that did not previously have a notebook. He's the one that brought it. I used my investigative skills. XD

[Blue Jay]

Haha well that is awesome that you figured it out so quick!

[Mousy]

It took me until lunch, but when I did find out who it was, it was even more funny bc of how he is in class.

[Blue Jay]

but that is what makes it awesome Mousy! XD

[Mousy]

I was play-fighting with one of my clever little babies today and I told one of the girls "Oooohhh GIRL, Hold my cardigan!" and the girl I was "fighting" with goes "Better get your SAFETY GOGGLES cuz it's about to get HEATED!!"

It was so funny because I'm their science teacher.

I love my students. They are a rough bunch, but omg I love them.

[Blue Jay]

Haha that is awesome Mousy! XD

[Ryvvi]

your children are sassy as frick o.o

[Mousy]

I know that I usually post some silly story on here or something funny that my students say, and I will today too, but I have something else to talk about that isn't as light-hearted.

Today, I had a student yell out in my class that he had a nosebleed. He is ALWAYS always always ALWAYS yelling in my class and lying. I told him to show me the tissue and there was no blood. I told him that unless blood was running out of his nose, he has no reason to yell out that way and he would not be going to the nurse. He sat at his desk with his head down for about 10 minutes. He looks up after that with a huge smile and blood running down his nose, over his mouth, and all over his teeth. He MADE his nose bleed. I sat him out in the hallway, made him put pressure on the bridge of his nose, and told him to lean forward. Came back out after a few minutes and his nosebleed had stopped. Call me mean, call me whatever, but I do not put up with that. Especially if a student has a history of doing stunts just for attention. This is typical. Not so much making your nose bleed, but wanting attention so badly that it doesn't matter what it is and it's really sad. I don't mind giving attention to my students. I really don't, but I can't give them the constant attention they crave when there are 19 others students needing to learn too.

One of the most difficult parts of my job is discipline. It's SO hard. I love my kids so much. All 60 of them. And when they get in trouble, no matter how deserving the trouble may be, it's hard. Even worse is when I have to call mom or dad.

I had to call a mom today and she answered the school's phone number and assumed it was one of her kids calling her to pick them up. "I'm on my f*ing way to pick you up, you punk a* b*!!!" Talk about stunned. Parents please, please, please do not talk to your children this way. This child often comes to school full of anger. She puts her head down in my class and sleeps. Sometimes, she'll just start crying. It breaks my heart to know that my little girl is so young and so angry when she doesn't have to be that way. This phone call was a wake up call for me. Sometimes I forget through the day to day frustrations that my students don't all have the best time at home. Sometimes I forget that they come to school with more baggage than I'll ever even dream of. and sometimes I forget that they are just 10 and don't know how to handle all of these curve balls that life is throwing at them and that's why they act out.

Being a teacher is one of the most rewarding and heartbreaking things I have ever done.

now, I promised you something more light-hearted~
One of my girls told me that the crazier your hair is, the smarter you are. I asked her "is that why my hair is so messy?" She says "oh yes! You're really smart!!"
XD Good thing I left my self-esteem at home.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Oh Mousy this is bitter sweet, the difficult lives those poor kids lead breaks my heart, but what a light you must be to them. I doubt social services would be much help. Does the school offer evening parental classes at all or free counselling? I am curious if the Mother who was swearing at you said anything when she realized it was a Teacher she was speaking to...hopefully it will be a wake up call to her to watch her speech, but then again some people think they can treat people however they want regardless of the impact it will have.

Keep giving them love!

[Mousy]

I haven't heard of any evening classes being offered, but that is a fantastic idea! A lot of my kids weren't exactly planned out like I was or my sister was. So maybe the parents weren't ready for kids and don't know how to handle them. Especially now that we're starting puberty. I had one parent that was 24 and had an 11 year old in my class. I'll let you do the math on that one, but it's seriously babies having babies. Other parents that had kids young are doing really well and are FANTASTIC parents.

As for the parent, I was with the principal making the phone call, and the principal took over and said who we were and why we were calling. The parent just said oh hey! and started the conversation. The fact that we heard how she spoke to her children did not phase her in the least.

I try my hardest to keep school a good and safe place for my kids to be, but sometimes I slip up too. There are days where I'm not nearly as understanding as I should be, but then days like today happen to remind me of my place.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Kids don't expect us to be perfect, just to know we care

[Blue Jay]

Awwww Mousy that is really really rough. It reminds me of when I volunteered for a few months in a Day Care center. I had a few kids who were really clingy to me and I felt so bad for this one boy. I would go there for the afternoon and he was there from 7am through 7pm when the day care closed. He would go home with his parents and have dinner then went to bed. He was only 1 and half to 2 years old! The poor little guy isn't getting that bonding that he needs with his family but with the facility.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I had a Kinder class come through for a field trip today... 20 kids and their Teacher and 5 parents. They went to the park after ( gorgeous day , in the 80's today). Two of the kids got very excited and were being quite loud and nudging each other to see who could go first so the teacher had them stand in separate corners and asked them to be quiet. The one kid was quiet but the other was yelling "Kathy is loud", Kathy is a mean Teacher", Kathy is a bad Teacher.In the meantime she was trying to take pictures of each student. She would reply to him and then when she told him if he didn't be quiet he may miss out on going to the park, the kid wailed. That brought his mother over (don't know why she didn't notice before) so she looked aghast and started to drag him away and was going to take him home. So the Teacher went outside and talked with them and then she came back in and we finished the tour. Then while the kids were loading back up in their cars the Teacher came back in with the one student who had been misbehaving but now was very quiet and willing to listen , so she asked if he could take a quick look.

Made me think of 2 things, kids will be unruly whatever income family level they come from and whether the parents are present volunteering,we all have our bad days and secondly had the parent not listened to the Teacher and waited but taken the child home instead of giving him a time out what a different memory the child would have had of the field trip. As it was he left with a big smile on his face!

[Mousy]

Today, I was vomited upon.
and it was awful.