Fickleness of Teenagers

(Since Landon isn't finished his homework yet I thought I'd squeeze in a post)

Last Friday I woke late for work. I had just enough time to pull my hair back, throw some clothes on and head to my carpool. Arrived to school to be reminded that it was picture day and I had to have my picture taken for yearbook and staff id. Should have been my first clue to what kind of day it was going to be. The picture turned out okay but I didn't really care. My first hour went well. Second hour we split up the class and I was working with a group of 8 students. One girl kept rolling her eyes and sighing anytime I would correct someone's pronounciation or ask comprehension questions. After 20 minutes I told her that it was rude and she needed to stop. She did it again! So I told her to pick up her books and move to another part of the room and do the assignment because I didn't want to be disrespected any longer. She stopped and we finished the lesson. This girl's brother is in my 3rd hour. He was a PILL along with a few other students. My fourth hour would not stop talking and were really rude. I was ready to go insane. After lunch I had my fifth hour class which was the worst behaved class of the day. I was so glad it was my prep. I have been trying to get my IEP program working and spent half an hour trying to dowload the shortcut from the website. Wasn't working so I headed to the office to try and get a few things copied while the program downloaded. While there I had to deal with a stupid note from the high school SPED department. I was not in a good mood when the principal called to ask me to go to the counsellors office. He may have been on speaker phone when I said outloud, "I do not have time for this!" The secretary covered for me and tried to cheer me up because I had tears in my eyes. I arrived in the counselor's office to find the girl from 2nd hour with her mother and sister. I had no idea why I was there except that the mother looked like she wanted to kill me. The counselor explained that the mother wanted an apology for disrespecting my daughter just because she was Mexican. I explained what had happened in class and waited while it was translated. The girl spoke up and said she was talking about the day before when I had taken her pencil away. I explained that situation to the mom as well. (As in the girl had been asked to stop answering questions when we hadn't read the material for it yet. So I took her pencil and returned it when it was time for her to write.) Her mother apologized to me and told her daughter to apologize and stop disrespecting me. By this time I am in tears. Too much in one day. It turned into this big circus and finally after 25 minutes they let me go. I cancelled homeroom because I couldn't stop crying and didn't want to see students. Of course a student decided to come in after school for help and I didn't get to leave until 4:30. I just about quit my job. I was just done! Instead I came back Monday with a proactive behaviour plan (which so far is working) and a big smile on my face. The part that makes me laugh now is that this same girl ended up on the overnight field trip to Crystal Park, Montana. Most of her friends really like me and two of them were in the same cabin as her. This girl suggested to them that they should ask to have me as their chaperone in their cabin. She even asked me. She said it was because they all like me and knew that we would have fun together. We hung out together for two whole days and had a blast. I have learned my lesson. When a teenager is upset about something wait four days. It will change!

(It may have helped because I told her mom how invaluable I thought she was and what a leader for positive behaviour in the class she can be. :) )

Its Been Awhile...

School has begun. I still haven't come up for breath. My computer at work died so I am using a school laptop which for some reason won't allow me to access my blog. As I am either at work or home playing with my kids this blog has been neglected. The transition to full time work again has not been pretty and I wanted to spare you all the details. Landon is on the computer working on his homework once the kids go to sleep so I don't really have time or access to any computer to blog. :) I usually just go to bed. There are lots of things to report and hopefully I will get a chance soon. Tings such as Emily's first day at preschool. Enjoying the beautiful weather. Landon's birthday. Some good things happening at work. My overnight trip to Crystal Park in Montana with some other teachers and some 8th grade students. But as we are heading out the door to go to Utah to belatedly celebrate Landon's birthday I am just quickly saying Hi and giving a promise to come back soon. :)