The Pebble and the Boulder Day 1

(Disclaimer: The names of all children in all of my blogs have been changed to protect the innocent (or guilty) children. I have used the TV characters from shows of my youth.)

Eddie showed up on the second day of school without an adult to enroll him. He simply showed up. On his first day in sixth grade it was obvious we had a little boy crying out for help. He got in trouble everywhere he went. During the first week of school we focus on the positives of each child and complimenting students doing the right thing, but Eddie had me baffled. I had to go straight to, "This is not going to fly, mister!" I explained to him about our after school intervention we had available for anyone having five infractions in a week. It was as if he was shooting up flares saying, "sign me up, because I want to stay." He didn't have any school supplies, so we quickly gave him the supplies he needed. On his next day at school I noticed he was wearing the same clothes from the day before. Most kids come to school during the first week wearing a brand new outfit and sporting a new hairdo. Eddie came to school looking like his hair hadn't been cut all summer and wearing clothes that looked like he had slept in them.

By the third week of school Eddie had escalated his efforts to stay in trouble. I noticed him trying to be "bad to the bone", but he really had a good heart. So what exactly was his story? I I started noticing his short fuse with two specific boys in his class. I pulled Eddie aside and told him the story of the "Pebble and the Boulder".

"Eddie, you seem like a pretty tough boy. If Richie threw a pebble at you, would you be hurt?" I asked. Eddie replied with a strong no. "If Richie and his friend threw a pebble at you for an entire week, would you be hurt?" He replied, "Well, not really." I said, "Well, you might have a bruise, but you're a tough kid, so of course you wouldn't be hurt. So, what if the entire 6th grade threw a pebble at you? Would that hurt?" He thought for moment and I knew he was wanting to be tough and tell me how much he couldn't be hurt, but he replied, "Yeah, that would probably hurt." I said, "It would probably do more to hurt your heart than anything else, but what if Richie threw a boulder at you....would that hurt? Of course it would. You know, Eddie, you are probably one of the toughest kids in sixth grade. Why are you letting Richie throw boulders at you and have power over you? You have the power to say, "whatever dude" and walk away. Everytime you try to have a "comeback" Richie scores a point and the boulder scores a direct hit on you. I can see you can't take it anymore, so what are we going to do about it? I can't move you any further away from him in my room. I need you to do your very best to ignore him. Dude, just press the mute button on your remote control and don't listen to what he's selling. You have the power to turn him off. And Eddie, I know you have gotten to "After School Intervention" as fast as you possibly could, so be ready to have a serious plan for change. Be thinking about it because you are not leaving my room without a better plan for success."

About that time the whistle blew signaling the end of recess and Eddie was headed to lunch. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I knew he was on a short fuse with Richie.

Later in the afternoon it was time for my last rotation of science for the day. Eddie stormed through my room like a runaway freight train. He started screaming, "Richie called me gay." I pulled Eddie aside and said, "That was so mean of him to say that." I shook my head from side to side and said, "That is a big problem and I'm going to do something about it. Right now I have a full lesson planned for class, so you try not to worry about it. We will get to the bottom of this soon."

I started teaching the demonstration lab. I had plans of plotting on a line graph different chemical changes. Each reaction had different timing with the last demonstration being an eruption of green slime. I was just beginning the first eruption when Eddie exploded instead. Evidently Richie was mouthing mean things to Eddie and he was ready to fight. I tried to calm him down but he continued to yell. Despite my best efforts, Eddie had to go to the office. Eddie got crushed by the boulder. It didn't hurt him physically, but his heart took a blow he could no longer handle.

I went home mentally and physically exhausted. I felt like the situation was a tremendous boulder on me. It was really hard for me to leave my emotions at school. I went to bed early thinking about what could be done to help Eddie.

Meet 'Em, Greet 'Em, Meet 'Em Again, and Again

During Thursday of inservice week my school held an open house where parents and students could find out their teacher. Students could bring their school supplies and unload their goods into their desks. The open house was held in the evening after school hours. During the second week of school we held a "Curriculum Night." This meeting was held to tell the parents about new school policies, and listen to teachers talk about class procedures. During this meeting parents were encouraged to sign-up for teacher-parent conferences to be held three weeks later. In two weeks the school will hold a PTA meeting at night in which teachers are highly encouraged to attend.

It was 8:45 PM when I finally ushered the last parent out the door. I had been on my feet non-stop since arriving at school at 7:30 AM. I'm really curious what occupation has their salaried employees work 13 hour days without the benefit of a "flex" or "comp" day. I don't know of a school that offers this arrangement to teachers. I really do "get it" about the need for parents to have access to teachers. I always attended my children's school events. I really appreciated the long hours the teachers put in, because I was in their same boat.

When I arrived home, my daughter and husband had tried making "spirit overalls" in which I had insisted they not start until I was home. My daughter was determined to start without me and I did my best to give directions. Even still, they had spent hours cutting out patterns and letters, but had missed a vital step. Prior to cutting out the shapes, the "wonder under" should have been ironed to the fabric. After eating dinner which consisted of a quick bowl of cereal, I was finally able to take off my teacher hat and be a mother. We started the project over from scratch. Shortly after midnight the project was half completed, but we all called it a night anyway.

My feet hurt, my eyes are weary, and in 6 hours I will awake to be a motivating teacher. Why did I plan a science experiment tomorrow with several stations? I'm not sure my feet can handle it. After school I will look forward to a 2 hour training for science teachers. I really like the science trainings because I usually get to be a kid and investigate all kinds of experiments. However, the family has been instructed once again to eat without me.

I know this is all part of the job, but it's hard with the time demands to strike a balance between family and work. The old saying of the best part of being a teacher is "June, July and August" really only boils down to a few weeks. The rest of the summer is heavily scheduled with trainings, curriculum writing, or building summer inservice.

Although I wouldn't trade my job for anything in the world, it's tough when the job entails putting other kids in front of my own. My daughter needed me to be home tonight. The time I missed with her was time I simply won't get back. Hopefully, I can figure out how to have the best of both worlds, but a night like tonight makes it pretty hard on my heart.

Day 2---Why? why? WHY?

Today is all about the "why?" On day two the science lesson was setting up the student science notebook and composition book. All of my fellow 6th grade teachers across the district were supposedly teaching the same lesson at the exact same time. When I was going through my lesson plans, it never dawned on me that only a handful of the 80 students would actually have the science composition book. Why would that be? It was never put on the district supply list! The students and parents didn't know to buy it. ARGH!!!!

In elementary school a teacher must be at certain places at exact certain times. Everything and I mean everything runs with honed precision down to the exact minute. This morning after calling roll and all of my children were present, I sent my attendance to the office. My classroom is outside in an old surplus WWII barracks. The outside of my building is a dull Army brown, but inside my room has been transformed into a tropical paradise. Even still, with today's "stranger danger" times, we keep our doors locked and students travel in pairs with my building key to go inside. A trip to the office is a big ordeal. My two Helpers of the Day took my attendance, well actually one would travel to the office with the attendance and the other helper would return to my room with the key. Please...they are 6th graders with a key to Ft. Knox, I mean the building, so I don't let them go very far. Several minutes later my helper returned from the long trek to the office holding my attendance in hand. "Why are you back with that?" I asked half-heartedly, "Did the office get moved from yesterday?" It was around 9:28-ish and the attendance MUST be in the office by 10:00 AM. My little helper shyly said, "You have to turn it in at 10:00 AM." I'm sure the expression of disappointment on my face showed, because this sweet little helper gave me a hug and said, "It's going to be okay." Why on Earth would my attendance not be accepted 32 minutes early? ALL of my students were present. Were more of my already 100% in attendance going to show up? Why could I not turn in my attendance? A student rescued me by handing me my Starbucks cup of Joe. Thank goodness! All is right with the world again. While changing classes at 10:28, my teacher intern came up to me and said, "I think it's past time to get your roll turned in." I knew it! I just knew it!!!! My attendance was now past due and undoubtedly I would be scolded for being tardy. I'm not sure what the punishment is for a tardy teacher's attendance...detention?

The next surprise came at recess when we found out the office decided to move the kindergarten and first grade lunches back 10 minutes. Now this might not seem like a big deal, but if no one had bothered to tell the 6th grade teachers, we would have entered the cafeteria to find little kindergartners still occupying our sixth grade seats. I have learned not to stand between a hungry 6th grader and his food. It's like a hungry bear going through a vacationer's car. The cafeteria ended up being backed up 10 minutes the entire day.

While my students were at Fine Arts time, I had a few minutes to race through some e-mails. I discovered that attendance would be done electronically starting in the morning. Why am I not overly excited about this news? In order for attendance to happen in the morning, I would need to follow a few short steps to set-up my Teacher Attendance Center. Let's get something straight. Anytime anyone says technology will only take a few minutes can immediately be translated to hours and hours of frustration. By this time in the afternoon my Starbucks is long gone and the effects are waning. Three hours of frustration, two e-mails and two colleagues later, I'm all set for tomorrow's attendance. At least my computer won't tell me "You're too early!"

I have only one question to ask, "Why is tomorrow only Wednesday?"