Adventures in (Glorified) Babysitting Continue
At work, there's one particular table that I always tend to supervise during First Lunch; it's a table of precocious (and often manipulative) second-graders.
Patrick is a particularly mouthy kid who can't seem to stay in his seat. Chris also has problems remaining seated; he has too much energy, and is borderline-hyper.
Rachel is a very precocious girl who can't seem to get it through her head that I'm not allowed to eat while working. She's always offering me some of her food: for example, she'll offer me a potato chip, I'll politely decline, she'll break it in half and offer me a smaller piece, I'll decline again, she'll break off an even smaller piece of the chip and offer it to me, I'll decline once again, et. al. She also has three different hand signals she wants me to memorize (waving, asking a question, and stretching).
Kevin G. is manipulative in a somewhat-gutsy way, for an eight-year-old (he begged me to eat a chocolate pretzel, the other day). Kevin N. always says gross things to his classmates during lunch, but seems a lot more subdued than he did when I first began working there (I'm convinced his parents give him Ritalin twice a day).
Max is Patrick's best friend, who also has trouble staying in his seat. He often asks mischievous questions or tries to get away with breaking the rules in a charming-yet-impish way (he's also the son of the PTA president).
Fabeeha is another impish character, who always seems to have a perpetual devilish smirk on her face. She's always playing word games with me ("Mr. Tony, are you smart?...Count upward to 100.") -- she also seems to have to ALWAYS butt in with her two-cents when I'm trying to resolve conflicts between OTHER people.
Danny is a hyper kid who's always throwing his arms around me and giving me a hug/squeeze around the waist. The other day, he even went so far as to rub my stomach and then tickle my belly button (through the fabric of my shirt, of course).
Daniel T. and Daniel G are both really quiet Asian boys (different ethnicities, though -- I believe). Daniel T. used to always do a primitive form of pole-dancing at the corner of their lunch table -- and then he'll grin at you in an adorable-yet-manipulative way.
Megan is fairly quiet and well-behaved (she has a fraternal twin brother, also in the second-grade, and an older brother in Liza's class who's extremely shy and well-behaved). Hana is probably the best-behaved girl in Roberta's class -- always really low-key and well-behaved.
Glen, as I talked about in an earlier post, is the most well-behaved boy in the class. He's always extremely respectful, but is also EXTREMELY sensitive (see the previous LJ entry about when Paula yelled at him a few weeks ago). I suspect he might be gay.
On Friday, Quon placed his lunch in a spot at the table that Rachel had her eye on. Rachel tried to claim the seat on the bench for herself, and they got into a shoving match. That resulted in Rachel's cold lunch from home (and she had ONLY potato chips and a drink/dessert, by the way -- no sandwich or any main nutritional-type entree) being knocked to the ground, forcing her to buy her own lunch for $1...which sent her into a tailspin of tears.
After lunch recess, Roberta (their teacher) made me bring Quon to the office, because, as she described it, he's "out-of-control" but his parents don't believe it and they think Roberta is the only one with the complaints about her son; so she wanted an incident report to come from the main office, not just her. When I arrived in the office with Quon, Carol was busy with something else (Virginia was absent) and promptly sent me back to the classroom with Quon -- but she also had me fill out an Incident Report. I was filling it out on the yard during Second Lunch while watching the rowdy third-grade boys who always play handball or kickball; I told Sandy what Carol was having me do, but then Debbie came out onto the yard and saw me sitting on the bench, writing. Fortunately, Sandy explained (in conversation) to Debbie what Carol was having me do, so Debbie wouldn't assume I was just being lazy. I don't know what will happen on Monday (according to Carol, the parents [Rachel's and Quon's] will never get to speak to me personally about it), since my Incident Report is now solely in Carol's hands, and I made it clear to both Carol and Roberta that Quon and Rachel both bear responsibility for their roles in the conflict (about 60-70 Quon vs. 30-40 Rachel). Rachel even admitted to me that she did the wrong thing by not picking another seat, yet she also stated she doesn't feel she should suffer any consequences/punishment for it. Quon was in tears when Roberta first had me bring him to the office; he was afraid his parents would ground him for several months.
Don't even get me started on the fifth-graders...
One thing about my job -- it's never boring. Plus I work with a group of mostly-nice (with the exceptions of Debbie and Donnia) and definitely-colorful people.
Patrick is a particularly mouthy kid who can't seem to stay in his seat. Chris also has problems remaining seated; he has too much energy, and is borderline-hyper.
Rachel is a very precocious girl who can't seem to get it through her head that I'm not allowed to eat while working. She's always offering me some of her food: for example, she'll offer me a potato chip, I'll politely decline, she'll break it in half and offer me a smaller piece, I'll decline again, she'll break off an even smaller piece of the chip and offer it to me, I'll decline once again, et. al. She also has three different hand signals she wants me to memorize (waving, asking a question, and stretching).
Kevin G. is manipulative in a somewhat-gutsy way, for an eight-year-old (he begged me to eat a chocolate pretzel, the other day). Kevin N. always says gross things to his classmates during lunch, but seems a lot more subdued than he did when I first began working there (I'm convinced his parents give him Ritalin twice a day).
Max is Patrick's best friend, who also has trouble staying in his seat. He often asks mischievous questions or tries to get away with breaking the rules in a charming-yet-impish way (he's also the son of the PTA president).
Fabeeha is another impish character, who always seems to have a perpetual devilish smirk on her face. She's always playing word games with me ("Mr. Tony, are you smart?...Count upward to 100.") -- she also seems to have to ALWAYS butt in with her two-cents when I'm trying to resolve conflicts between OTHER people.
Danny is a hyper kid who's always throwing his arms around me and giving me a hug/squeeze around the waist. The other day, he even went so far as to rub my stomach and then tickle my belly button (through the fabric of my shirt, of course).
Daniel T. and Daniel G are both really quiet Asian boys (different ethnicities, though -- I believe). Daniel T. used to always do a primitive form of pole-dancing at the corner of their lunch table -- and then he'll grin at you in an adorable-yet-manipulative way.
Megan is fairly quiet and well-behaved (she has a fraternal twin brother, also in the second-grade, and an older brother in Liza's class who's extremely shy and well-behaved). Hana is probably the best-behaved girl in Roberta's class -- always really low-key and well-behaved.
Glen, as I talked about in an earlier post, is the most well-behaved boy in the class. He's always extremely respectful, but is also EXTREMELY sensitive (see the previous LJ entry about when Paula yelled at him a few weeks ago). I suspect he might be gay.
On Friday, Quon placed his lunch in a spot at the table that Rachel had her eye on. Rachel tried to claim the seat on the bench for herself, and they got into a shoving match. That resulted in Rachel's cold lunch from home (and she had ONLY potato chips and a drink/dessert, by the way -- no sandwich or any main nutritional-type entree) being knocked to the ground, forcing her to buy her own lunch for $1...which sent her into a tailspin of tears.
After lunch recess, Roberta (their teacher) made me bring Quon to the office, because, as she described it, he's "out-of-control" but his parents don't believe it and they think Roberta is the only one with the complaints about her son; so she wanted an incident report to come from the main office, not just her. When I arrived in the office with Quon, Carol was busy with something else (Virginia was absent) and promptly sent me back to the classroom with Quon -- but she also had me fill out an Incident Report. I was filling it out on the yard during Second Lunch while watching the rowdy third-grade boys who always play handball or kickball; I told Sandy what Carol was having me do, but then Debbie came out onto the yard and saw me sitting on the bench, writing. Fortunately, Sandy explained (in conversation) to Debbie what Carol was having me do, so Debbie wouldn't assume I was just being lazy. I don't know what will happen on Monday (according to Carol, the parents [Rachel's and Quon's] will never get to speak to me personally about it), since my Incident Report is now solely in Carol's hands, and I made it clear to both Carol and Roberta that Quon and Rachel both bear responsibility for their roles in the conflict (about 60-70 Quon vs. 30-40 Rachel). Rachel even admitted to me that she did the wrong thing by not picking another seat, yet she also stated she doesn't feel she should suffer any consequences/punishment for it. Quon was in tears when Roberta first had me bring him to the office; he was afraid his parents would ground him for several months.
Don't even get me started on the fifth-graders...
One thing about my job -- it's never boring. Plus I work with a group of mostly-nice (with the exceptions of Debbie and Donnia) and definitely-colorful people.