Teaching definitely gets into my head too far. Last night I dreamed that my team was planning the next few units and I was getting all excited about ideas I started to have. I was saying that you could play a sample of different kinds of instruments and let the kids vote on their favorites, then create a bar graph out of the results. We just finished a story about a boy who plays the violin, so we had discussed instruments already in class. The kids wrote a paragraph about what instrument they would like to play, a girl brought her mini guitar to class to demonstrate, and the music teacher had played his violin for them. So, that's where it came from, but come on. Give me a break.
Earlier this week I dreamed (or nightmared, actually) that one of my students' parents (Stephanie's mom, to be exact) had come up to the school, ranting & raving about something - probably that I was to blame for her child's bad behavior, (nevermind the fact that she had spent the last 9 years of her life messing her up herself). The mother physically attacked me and pulled these hairpins out of my hair, thinking they were diamonds. No, they were not. They were glass. But I woke up, trying to figure out if I was going to call the police or just tell on her in the office (in which case they would probably not do much of anything....what could they do?)
This dream is probably reminiscent of the student I have every year whose parents seem supportive up until a certain point, then turn on me. Last year it was Montarrius' grandmother. Because of that, even now I can't stand to even see his face. I will speak to all of my other students except for him. I can't help it. Any teacher who tells you that she/he loves all her/his students equally is a LIAR. It just isn't true. Anyway, I wonder which parent it will be this year. Usually it's the parent of a child who either has terrible behavior (Kyla, Stephanie, Zachary for instance) or a child who is making F's either because he/she can't or won't do the work (Kalia, Tangeneka, Brianna). Maybe I'll find out week after next, on parent/teacher conference day. Then again, probably not, because usually this parent doesn't show up to show out until the end of year, despite repeated attempts to get her up to the school by notes or phone calls throughout the year.
I have been getting to know my students a lot better this week. I cannot stand a negative attitude, and this week I finally pinpointed the student I'm going to have the most trouble with - Zachary. I had to have an outside-the-door talk with him twice so far and I called his aunt Friday. He had come to school with the first page of his weekly report (the grades), but the 2nd page (behavior) was torn off. What a surprise. He insisted that she saw it, but I gave him back the page two anyway and told him to get it signed. I tried to call his aunt with my cell phone, but she must have been screening her calls, so I called from the school phone at lunch - she picked up then. I told her about the 2nd page with the behavior and told her that he had it for her to see and sign and return on Tuesday (Monday -Labor Day, thank God). She perked up and said, oooooh, ok I will do that. So then when I got back to class, I told Zachary that I had called her and she said she did not see that page. He continued to adamantly insist that she HAD seen it. I finally had to send him out on a time-out to Mrs. Frank. I'm afraid he's going to be this year's Montarrius. I cannot STAND that nasty attitude - I can put up with almost anything else but that.
About Kyla, now. The mouth of the south. I had to go to the car to tell grandma that Kyla was excessively talking in class twice so far. The second time I invited her to a conference with me and we created a behavior contract, in which she got 5 chances during the day to talk when the time was right. If she made her goal, she gets to get on the computer at the end of the day, but if not, she doesn't. We met on Wednesday, and she got on the computer Thursday & Friday, so it seems to be working. Now, her mouth still runs, don't get me wrong, but it's better than it was.
We'll see what this week brings.....
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