i've had nothing of any substance to say, lately. the number of fistfights i have had to break up in the past three days alone are beginning to trouble me. i know these kids have rough lives at home, but how do i get through to them?
my fourth graders thought the capital of the united states was capital heights. DC happens to be right next door, and they had no idea.
i spent class with my sixth graders discussing 9/11 because they had no idea that it happened. why is no one telling them these things?
meanwhile, i've been working twelve hour days running on coffee and diet coke. not a good combination, but i don't know how to stop.
but the highlight of my day yesterday:
we talked about latin music in my fifth grade class yesterday.
they had no idea who gloria estefan was (yes, i totally went off track from the original lesson plan, as usual).
I decided to not play the pathetic demonstration of latin music the curriclum chose, and played the original video of gloria singing the song "Reach" while showing the 1996 olympics.
[they had no idea what the olympics are, by the way]
we then talked about music in spain, cuba, portugal. i taught a little salsa step and they danced themselves out the door.
their classroom teacher asked them:
what is wrong with you? why are you dancing?
one serious fifth grader: because we learned to follow our dreams.
HAHAHAHA. where do they get this stuff? we talked about gloria and latin music and this is what they took from it?
alright, i'm not going to argue that one.
yesterday. was absolutely horrifying. i had my fourth grade class, and several of them apparently not only have ADHD, but ODD. Oppositional Defiance Disorder? what a load of crap equalling bad parenting and disrespect for everyone including themselves. How exactly am i to prevent three fights breaking out at the same time? How do you control 30 kids when all they do is scream at each other. about six of them could not care less, and that turns my class into "recess time".
UUUUGH.
i realize that these kids require constant positive reinforcement, particularly since they never respond to yelling or negativity. HOWEVER, i don't have TIME to do that in only 30 minutes, only once per week. that time goes by feeling like a second. and now i've nearly lost my voice
unbelievable. i've never seen kids this bad. not in a single other class.
now how in the world do i win them over? clearly fun and activities do not work.
sigh.
you win some and you lose some.
but i am so grateful to have a day off. i need a breather.
