"The kingdom of heaven IS at hand ... "
I love the movie Clue. It's just so funny. I don't know, but I'm crazy. You all knew that.
So yesterday was an interesting day. The day started out okay: the lesson I had planned for my classes went really well, lunch was good (chicken nuggets), and I was feeling pretty good. But then my head started hurting at the beginning of 6th period. Then the worst thing, the thing that I have always dreaded: M. fell down on the floor and started convulsing. She had looked sick all period, but usually she's tired and nothing bad happens, she just doesn't feel good. I ran across the hall to the biology teacher to get his help and I sent a student to get the principal or the dean of students. Mr. Phelps called the office to get an ambulance, the dean of students came back, we sent the class to the library, and as M. gradually came out of the seizure, she started dry heaving and screaming that her insides were burning. Another teacher brought her sister down to the class and she called the mother for us. The ambulance finally came and took her away, and I called tonight and she was okay. Her mother is taking her to a specialist tomorrow to find out what's going on and why she has all these health problems. Prior to yesterday, her muscles would lock up if she got too cold. It was really scary on one level, because I didn't know what else to do for her, and I was worried that she was going to stop breathing. It's been a long time since I had CPR training, and while I'm sure that I remember what to do and how to do it, I didn't want to have to. M. is a student that I had my first year - she's one of my "original" kids, and I couldn't imagine having to keep her alive. I know that what you're supposed to do for someone who is seizing is just make sure that he/she isn't in danger of hitting his/her head or knocking things over, but you still feel so helpless. I was encouraged because at one point, before the other teachers got there, I was holding her hand and I asked her if she could feel me and she nodded, so that was good. I'd like to believe that the nod was her nodding that she felt me, and not part of the convulsions. It looked different than the convulsions at any rate.
All of a sudden, when M. was taken away, my head felt like it was splitting in two. I managed to teach the next period and a half (the last half of 8th period I gave up and told the kids to work on some problems but to keep it down - it's the ACT math class, so it's not like there's a grade or any kind of syllabus - just go over ACT math problems). I got home around 5:30 (I skipped the gym) and went to bed. I didn't get up until 6am. It felt so good. And I almost never felt my headache again - very briefly this morning, and now a tiny little bit. Of course, this is totally irrelevant compared to M., which is the only reason I was able to keep teaching - I kept thinking about M. and saying that as long as I'm conscious, I should still be able to teach. So I did.
When I told the nurse about M. the next morning, she smiled knowingly at me and said "Because her mom wouldn't come out." The nurse's opinion is that M. had faked the seizure because she wanted her mom to come get her. I'm sick to death of teachers not giving students the benefit of the doubt. I admit, that there times when I don't believe my students, but it's usually when it's an excuse I've heard them give before and I know it's not true, or when I see them doing something they shouldn't be (like eating in class or talking when I'm trying to teach), and they try to convince me that they weren't doing anything wrong. But if my students tell me that they are sick or there is something wrong or something happened to them, I believe them. I went back to Mr. Phelps after I talked to the nurse and asked him if he thought M. was faking. He said no, she was not faking. I thought that maybe I was being too gullible. But when a biology teacher says someone isn't faking, and when I see someone foaming at the mouth and screaming in pain, I tend to believe the student. Stupid nurse.
And then, yesterday, D. was in my room talking to another student and he said "Ms. Reeder thinks I'm a bad person." Now, I will admit that I do not like having D. in class, but I do not think he is a bad person. He just can't keep his mouth shut and his focus on the lesson. I stopped him right there and said "I do not think you are a bad person. You aren't a bad person. I think you need to grow up, to mature a little bit. I think you make bad choices, but you are not a bad person. You are really smart, but you don't focus on your school work. If you were a little more mature, a little more grown-up, and acted like a high school student, you wouldn't have any problems getting A's and B's. You are too smart for how you behave; I'm disappointed in your behavior and in the choices that you make: that doesn't mean that I think you are a bad person." He said that all the other teachers think he's a bad person. I kept repeating that he wasn't a bad person. And really, he isn't. He just acts likes he's 5 years old. So at the end of my lecture/pep talk, he said that no one had ever told him that before, and that he'd show me, he was going to act right in class the next day. So he came into class today and was acting perfectly. It was amazing. He was one of the best students in the class. Now, most of the rest of the class was misbehaving, so I'm going to have to crack down on them tomorrow, which was unfortunate, but he was perfect. It told him that at the end of class, and I told him after school at the end of Quiz Bowl. Not only did he stay for Quiz Bowl (which he technically isn't a part of because no one thinks he's smart enough or well-behaved enough), but he played on one of the teams and didn't act up and answered some questions. It makes me so frustrated and so sad and so angry when kids resort to misbehaving because that is all that is expected of them. It sickens me. The same teachers who bitch and moan and complain that students aren't behaving for them are the same teachers who don't tell kids when they have acted right - all they do is write up the "bad" kids for the smallest things. No child should ever feel that teachers think they are bad people. Can you imagine? It's terrible. ARGH.
Okay, that's all for now. I'm SUPER late for bed, but that's okay, because I went out to dinner with the Rodriguez' (my mentor teacher and his two kids, who I have in class), and I talked to my parents and I talked to friends and I updated my LiveJournal and I vented about how unfairly my kids are treated. All in all, a good night, even if I didn't finish my lesson plans or the work for tomorrow. (Oh, and rumor has it that my principal is out for 6 to 8 weeks. We aren't sure why - either knee surgery or something more serious. But we don't know why. And it may be for more or less time. All we know is that he's going to be out for a while. Let's see the school go crazy now ... when the cat's away, the mice will play. Evidence A: I haven't even finished typing my lesson plans for this week, much less turned them in, and they were due Monday at 8am. Fun, fun.)
G'night!
P.S. Parent-teacher conferences Thursday. I'd be more excited if I thought that they were going to go well ... But I have some low Honors grades, and I have some kids that I know are going to irrate parents. And even if the parents aren't irrate with me, it still makes me super uncomfortable when they are irrate with their child in front of me. I don't know why - I guess because my parents really never yelled at me, and if they ever did, I ran away and hid as much as I could. I don't like confrontation. Oh well *sigh* It's good to meet the parents. I can make sure that I have all the necessary information (like what medicine a child is on so that if there's an emergency like yesterday I can tell the paramedics what's going on!!! I felt like a fool when they asked what M. was on and I couldn't tell them. Argh. Although, thinking about it, it's probably illegal for me to tell - confidentiality laws and all that. Oh well, she's fine, so that's all that matters.)
'K, I'm really going to bed!
So yesterday was an interesting day. The day started out okay: the lesson I had planned for my classes went really well, lunch was good (chicken nuggets), and I was feeling pretty good. But then my head started hurting at the beginning of 6th period. Then the worst thing, the thing that I have always dreaded: M. fell down on the floor and started convulsing. She had looked sick all period, but usually she's tired and nothing bad happens, she just doesn't feel good. I ran across the hall to the biology teacher to get his help and I sent a student to get the principal or the dean of students. Mr. Phelps called the office to get an ambulance, the dean of students came back, we sent the class to the library, and as M. gradually came out of the seizure, she started dry heaving and screaming that her insides were burning. Another teacher brought her sister down to the class and she called the mother for us. The ambulance finally came and took her away, and I called tonight and she was okay. Her mother is taking her to a specialist tomorrow to find out what's going on and why she has all these health problems. Prior to yesterday, her muscles would lock up if she got too cold. It was really scary on one level, because I didn't know what else to do for her, and I was worried that she was going to stop breathing. It's been a long time since I had CPR training, and while I'm sure that I remember what to do and how to do it, I didn't want to have to. M. is a student that I had my first year - she's one of my "original" kids, and I couldn't imagine having to keep her alive. I know that what you're supposed to do for someone who is seizing is just make sure that he/she isn't in danger of hitting his/her head or knocking things over, but you still feel so helpless. I was encouraged because at one point, before the other teachers got there, I was holding her hand and I asked her if she could feel me and she nodded, so that was good. I'd like to believe that the nod was her nodding that she felt me, and not part of the convulsions. It looked different than the convulsions at any rate.
All of a sudden, when M. was taken away, my head felt like it was splitting in two. I managed to teach the next period and a half (the last half of 8th period I gave up and told the kids to work on some problems but to keep it down - it's the ACT math class, so it's not like there's a grade or any kind of syllabus - just go over ACT math problems). I got home around 5:30 (I skipped the gym) and went to bed. I didn't get up until 6am. It felt so good. And I almost never felt my headache again - very briefly this morning, and now a tiny little bit. Of course, this is totally irrelevant compared to M., which is the only reason I was able to keep teaching - I kept thinking about M. and saying that as long as I'm conscious, I should still be able to teach. So I did.
When I told the nurse about M. the next morning, she smiled knowingly at me and said "Because her mom wouldn't come out." The nurse's opinion is that M. had faked the seizure because she wanted her mom to come get her. I'm sick to death of teachers not giving students the benefit of the doubt. I admit, that there times when I don't believe my students, but it's usually when it's an excuse I've heard them give before and I know it's not true, or when I see them doing something they shouldn't be (like eating in class or talking when I'm trying to teach), and they try to convince me that they weren't doing anything wrong. But if my students tell me that they are sick or there is something wrong or something happened to them, I believe them. I went back to Mr. Phelps after I talked to the nurse and asked him if he thought M. was faking. He said no, she was not faking. I thought that maybe I was being too gullible. But when a biology teacher says someone isn't faking, and when I see someone foaming at the mouth and screaming in pain, I tend to believe the student. Stupid nurse.
And then, yesterday, D. was in my room talking to another student and he said "Ms. Reeder thinks I'm a bad person." Now, I will admit that I do not like having D. in class, but I do not think he is a bad person. He just can't keep his mouth shut and his focus on the lesson. I stopped him right there and said "I do not think you are a bad person. You aren't a bad person. I think you need to grow up, to mature a little bit. I think you make bad choices, but you are not a bad person. You are really smart, but you don't focus on your school work. If you were a little more mature, a little more grown-up, and acted like a high school student, you wouldn't have any problems getting A's and B's. You are too smart for how you behave; I'm disappointed in your behavior and in the choices that you make: that doesn't mean that I think you are a bad person." He said that all the other teachers think he's a bad person. I kept repeating that he wasn't a bad person. And really, he isn't. He just acts likes he's 5 years old. So at the end of my lecture/pep talk, he said that no one had ever told him that before, and that he'd show me, he was going to act right in class the next day. So he came into class today and was acting perfectly. It was amazing. He was one of the best students in the class. Now, most of the rest of the class was misbehaving, so I'm going to have to crack down on them tomorrow, which was unfortunate, but he was perfect. It told him that at the end of class, and I told him after school at the end of Quiz Bowl. Not only did he stay for Quiz Bowl (which he technically isn't a part of because no one thinks he's smart enough or well-behaved enough), but he played on one of the teams and didn't act up and answered some questions. It makes me so frustrated and so sad and so angry when kids resort to misbehaving because that is all that is expected of them. It sickens me. The same teachers who bitch and moan and complain that students aren't behaving for them are the same teachers who don't tell kids when they have acted right - all they do is write up the "bad" kids for the smallest things. No child should ever feel that teachers think they are bad people. Can you imagine? It's terrible. ARGH.
Okay, that's all for now. I'm SUPER late for bed, but that's okay, because I went out to dinner with the Rodriguez' (my mentor teacher and his two kids, who I have in class), and I talked to my parents and I talked to friends and I updated my LiveJournal and I vented about how unfairly my kids are treated. All in all, a good night, even if I didn't finish my lesson plans or the work for tomorrow. (Oh, and rumor has it that my principal is out for 6 to 8 weeks. We aren't sure why - either knee surgery or something more serious. But we don't know why. And it may be for more or less time. All we know is that he's going to be out for a while. Let's see the school go crazy now ... when the cat's away, the mice will play. Evidence A: I haven't even finished typing my lesson plans for this week, much less turned them in, and they were due Monday at 8am. Fun, fun.)
G'night!
P.S. Parent-teacher conferences Thursday. I'd be more excited if I thought that they were going to go well ... But I have some low Honors grades, and I have some kids that I know are going to irrate parents. And even if the parents aren't irrate with me, it still makes me super uncomfortable when they are irrate with their child in front of me. I don't know why - I guess because my parents really never yelled at me, and if they ever did, I ran away and hid as much as I could. I don't like confrontation. Oh well *sigh* It's good to meet the parents. I can make sure that I have all the necessary information (like what medicine a child is on so that if there's an emergency like yesterday I can tell the paramedics what's going on!!! I felt like a fool when they asked what M. was on and I couldn't tell them. Argh. Although, thinking about it, it's probably illegal for me to tell - confidentiality laws and all that. Oh well, she's fine, so that's all that matters.)
'K, I'm really going to bed!