Sometimes I just feel like I am a bad teacher:
-inconsistent discipline
-inability to control my own classroom
*sigh* Today was just one of those days. I had to make hard decisions with some of my students today and I do not know if I made the right decisions. You know what is amazing to me? What is amazing to me is that in a 40 minute period I had a class of girls go from these statements:
"Are you going to miss us when we go to high school Mrs. Bailey?"
"We are going to miss you!"
"We LOVE you."
"No one can replace us!"
"We are practically her children!"
"Let's make a big sign for her."
"Yeah! We are going to make a big sign for you to remember us and you HAVE to put it up somewhere you will see it every day! and NEVER take it down!"
I went from statements like that at the beginning of class to the following statements at the end of class (these ones were written down after I gave them a little talking to. When they get into trouble I do not let them talk so they have to write down any comments they have):
"You are overstepping your boundaries and making some of us mad. We ARE singing and you need to stop getting after us."
"I HATE this class. I can't WAIT until it is over and I get to leave."
"I never want to come back."
Ya. Wow. In 40 minutes. How is that even possible? *sigh* My students are so dramatic sometimes. I know that for the most part they will not even remember it tomorrow. And would you like to know what caused the switch? Well, I would too. We were rehearsing for their performance next week and some girls were not giving 100% so other girls were getting mad at them and saying rude things to them. And then they started arguing with each other. And then they tried to argue with me-- unsuccessfully I might add. I don't bother arguing with middle school girls.) DRAMA.
So there you have it. Raging hormones/mood swings/drama in a nutshell. But when it happens I always feel like a really bad teacher because I let it get out of hand.
On a brighter note I FINALLY got twelve 8th grade boys who were forced into chorus because there was no where else to put them (i.e. They do NOT want to be in chorus) to sing today! So at least I have that positive note to go home on. And they sounded pretty darn good too! They even surprised themselves. I am proud of them. So even though the rest of my day was kind of lame, at least they left me having had a musical experience. Yay for them!
2 comments:
It's okay. Those kinds of days happen. I often feel that way too, it's hard being a new teacher. It's just hard. Add some dramatic teenagers to the mix and it's even harder. You have a rough job but the important thing is that you care and you do your best. Which I know you do. You are amazing teacher. I love you!
Good job getting adolescent boys to sing!! That is very impressive. You should be patting yourself on the back that you're dealing with all the middle school girl drama and not going insane. Seriously! They can be so easy to love, and so difficult to love at the same time. Clearly they love you though, so you're doing a amazing job!
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