sometimes it helps to be a little crazy a.k.a. totally batshit
so i don't really have time to tell you all the of the stories that i need to tell you but here is one little gem that may perhaps be one of my favorite moments from life ever.
there is a boy in my class, named dakari, whom i absolutely cannot control. out of my 23 students, he is the only one who i have not managed to charm, bribe, threaten, terrify, or beg into obedience.
about 70% of the time he is a model student, sitting quietly in active listening position, raising his hand politely, and working diligently on his assignments, which he never finishes.
the other 30% of the time he is flipping desks, hurling chairs across the room, and shredding up everything in sight.
after the first week of school, i cried for three hours straight, mostly about dakari and what a shitshow the whole situation was.
i would be lying if i said that things hadn't gotten better since the beginning of the year. slowly dakari (though probably a budding antisocial) has shown a lot of growth- he takes interest in other people, puts forth more effort to behave, and even smiles sometimes.
nevertheless, he still infuriates me on a daily basis.
on day this last week i got so mad at him during a lesson that i thought i was going to literally explode. we were in the middle of a phonics lesson and dakari began to tear up his word sort worksheet, letting the pieces slide the floor, all while watching me, waiting for my reaction.
"DAKARI!" I screeched. he face whipped around to meet mine, his eyes wide and excited.
then i smiled sweetly, raised my eyebrows, and looked at him knowingly.
"you are ripping up the wrong paper ," i whispered loudly.
dakari looked confused -never a good thing- but before he could react i whipped out from a nearby cabinet a neon green, glittery box. the front of the box read, in giant black scrawled letters:
STUPID PAPER
from the box i pulled a stack of giant papers: old tests, graded assignments, and memos from the district. i continued to walk around the room and teach as normal as i violently shredded the papers and slipped them into the box.
the whole class was silent, confused.
i turned to dakari, winked, and slipped the box under his desk.
he stared at me blankly for a moment, and then burst into a giant guffaw, falling backwards out of his chair, the first time i had seen him laugh, really laugh.
small victories.
there is a boy in my class, named dakari, whom i absolutely cannot control. out of my 23 students, he is the only one who i have not managed to charm, bribe, threaten, terrify, or beg into obedience.
about 70% of the time he is a model student, sitting quietly in active listening position, raising his hand politely, and working diligently on his assignments, which he never finishes.
the other 30% of the time he is flipping desks, hurling chairs across the room, and shredding up everything in sight.
after the first week of school, i cried for three hours straight, mostly about dakari and what a shitshow the whole situation was.
i would be lying if i said that things hadn't gotten better since the beginning of the year. slowly dakari (though probably a budding antisocial) has shown a lot of growth- he takes interest in other people, puts forth more effort to behave, and even smiles sometimes.
nevertheless, he still infuriates me on a daily basis.
on day this last week i got so mad at him during a lesson that i thought i was going to literally explode. we were in the middle of a phonics lesson and dakari began to tear up his word sort worksheet, letting the pieces slide the floor, all while watching me, waiting for my reaction.
"DAKARI!" I screeched. he face whipped around to meet mine, his eyes wide and excited.
then i smiled sweetly, raised my eyebrows, and looked at him knowingly.
"you are ripping up the wrong paper ," i whispered loudly.
dakari looked confused -never a good thing- but before he could react i whipped out from a nearby cabinet a neon green, glittery box. the front of the box read, in giant black scrawled letters:
STUPID PAPER
from the box i pulled a stack of giant papers: old tests, graded assignments, and memos from the district. i continued to walk around the room and teach as normal as i violently shredded the papers and slipped them into the box.
the whole class was silent, confused.
i turned to dakari, winked, and slipped the box under his desk.
he stared at me blankly for a moment, and then burst into a giant guffaw, falling backwards out of his chair, the first time i had seen him laugh, really laugh.
small victories.