The last two days have been pretty horrible. I've been trying to teach subtraction with regrouping. Some of my students have done very well, they've gotten it, been able to explain it, so on and so forth. However, a handful of them are struggling badly. One little girl is writing a one above the ten she is taking away, rather than one less then that number. Another is refusing to see which number is less. The first is probably getting confusing information from home, the other is playing me. She's acting frustrated, and so I try to help, bu won't listen. She's getting the attention she wants. I'm going to stop giving it to her. However, what if she does struggle? What do I do then?
Anyway. Mrs Howard has been out of the room the last two mornings. First she was doing some acceleration with the GT children,second she had to take her son to the doctors. The first day was... alright. Three students made life difficult, and finally I had to just stop. The next day was completly messed up. I'd planed the day this way:
7:45-8:00 Welcome
8:00-8:15 Annoucements
8:15-9:15 Ms. Longoria or Math
9:15-10:30 Walk for Heart
10:30-11:15 Math
11:15-11:30 Read Aloud
11:30-12:15 Lunch
12:15-1:15 Social Studies
1:15-2:45 Specials.
What actually happened was this:
7:45-8:00 Welcome
8:00-8:15 Announcements
8:15-8:25 Math then we got an announcement that Ms. Longoria WAS teaching so...
8:25-9:20 Ms. Longoria
9:20-9:35 Waiting for the Walk to Start
9:35-10:20 Walking. In this time there was a student who I was unable to get to walk, obey my requests, stand where I asked him to (I had to move him because he hit his brother and was not allowed to be near the boy he wanted to be par that boy's mother's request) so as we walked I handed him to the nearest administrator. He stayed with her though the whole walk.
10:20-10:30 Drinks
10:30-11:00 Library time
11:00-11:20 Bathroom/Drinks/Transition to the classroom
11:20-11:30 Read Aloud
11:30-12:15 Lunch- During this time the administrator I turned my student over came to inform me that he was getting suspended for three days and that I needed to get some work for him. Thankfully, I had a para I could hand the kids off to while I took care of that.
12:15-1:15 Ms. Howard was back for this, though she took three of my struggling students to work with them. The rest f them worked on their MLK books.
1:15-1:25 Transition to Specials, only to find out that specials were halved for the day so they didn't have to be there till 2:00.
1:25-1:55 Finish MLK books.
1:55-2:00 Go to specials, to find they don't start till 2:05
2:05-2:45 Specials - Ms. Howard and I went to retrieve test scores for them to go home with the students.
2:45-3:20 Dismissal
When we look back, was there really any instruction/ practice time? I don't think so. I really do not think so at all. I had to be very flexible.
I'm not sure if ANYTHING went well. We're going to give up on Subtraction because enough of them have the basics. I hope they're alright! I'm also not sure what I could have done to keep my boy from being suspended. I couldn't deal with him and everyone else in the classroom at the same time.
Right now I feel like I'm in the middle of a war zone. They're struggling to see me as a disciplinarian, because Ms. Howard has always been that. I think in their eyes I'm not allowed to make decisions like that and they don't like having to change their thinking. I need to be more structured about how I discipline.
All in all, this week has left me fairly flat. I'm not happy to be here. Only little things are keeping me going. Like when Ang. made me a bowtie out of tissues and I wore it during dismissal.
Hang in there!!!!
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