“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign of? “
-Albert Einstein
Guys! The struggle bus is real these days. We’re almost done with week three of Kindergarten Prep and my coworker and I are baffled and stressed to the max. We’re on the struggle bus and this time we’re the passengers trying to get off this roller coaster of a ride we’re on.
As a teacher, you come to know each and every student’s strengths and weaknesses. Each student is unique and has subjects that they excel in and others that they need help in.
And then you have those students who seem to be there physically but not mentally. It’s as if all the lights are on up there, yet no one’s home.
And there are only a few things worse than that!
We have a few students who are with us physically but mentally, they’re a million miles away.
Yesterday, my coworker and I both separately spent roughly 30 minutes with one student working on tracing his letters. No matter how many times we said “Just one trace down or just one trace across,” it ended as a bunch of scribbles.
I started to question my teaching abilities after the 35th time repeating myself. After the 36th time, I walked away. Obviously, I either can’t teach or he has no interest in learning how to trace properly!
We have a few students like that.
You can give them simple instructions like “walk to the sink” or “please come sit down on the carpet” and they’ll look at you as if you just spoke to them in a foreign language.
Even our mandarin speaking student knows what we mean when we say sit down or come over here in English.
So they have NO excuse whatsoever!
I just can’t.
Those lights are slowly turning off one by one. Slowly but surely!
That’s when you as a teacher want to go find a 2 by 4 and wack yourself in the forehead with it. Just one good time. That’s all I’d need. Possibly a concussion and a migraine. That’d get me sent home for a few days on bed rest, right?
But WAIT!
You have those children who have all the lights on upstairs and yet no one’s home and then you have those children who have all the lights on and EVERYONE is home.
Their mom, dad, sister, brother, pet gerbil and frog are home. Hell, even their grandparents and twice removed cousin Frank is home.
It’s a party in their brain!
And sometimes that can be worse than having no one home upstairs.
For one of my student’s has a party going on in her brain all day. Every day!
You never know what she has up her sleeve!
Yesterday, my coworker was sitting beside her (not even 2 feet away) during naptime. Instead of saying “Ms. ____, I have to use the bathroom,” she looked her in the eyes and took it upon herself to pee on her mat. Right In Front of HER!
Like what?! Why?! I can’t even!
Have you ever met a child whose brain is constantly turning over and over, never stopping, coming up with sneaky ways to make your day tougher? If so, raise your hand.
✋🏻 I have!
And ladies and gents, it is tough! It’s miserable and stressful. It makes coming to work a nightmare and one that seems to repeat itself every day. Over and over again.
So if you find that I’m on bed rest with a migraine and concussion, you’ll know why!
The struggle is real and it’s one that seems to never end.
helluvalifewithcassnicole 