prayer to the weather fairy

Potential sleet in McAllen thursday? If we get a weather day (1 in a gazillion chance), mark my words, I will write a majorly long blog post.

In other news…

Ok, so I am a failure at blogging. To attempt to recap the past however many months would be futile and a bit tedious. Instead, I present you with the snippet version.

 

• In January, 3 of my biggest troublemakers were transferred out of my class. As much as I hate to abandon some of my kids, it has made a huge difference. That class may still be widely known as one of the worst classes EVER IN THE HISTORY OF EVER (allowing for some hyperbole), but there are actually periods of real quiet. They are actually learning. I think many of them just decided it wasn’t worth the fight.
• I decided it wasn’t worth the fight. I made a conscious decision not to get as angry. It wasn’t helping them, and it wasn’t helping me. I try to joke around with them, to smile, and to be firm but unaffected. I’m more relaxed and they’re less defensive. It works.
• One thing I used to do a lot was wait. If they were talking, I would fall silent until they listened. It worked eventually, but we lost tons of time. Now, I’m trying something new– the louder they get, the more soft and regulated my voice gets. Eventually, the kids who are trying to learn on the other side of the room, the ones who can’t hear me, make sure the people around them shut up. I think that when I waited, they took advantage of it as “free time.” when I talked over them, there was no reason to be quiet. Plus, now I don’t lose my voice.
• My middle block now calls me Ms. Swagger (or Swag). This may stem from an incident in which I rapped during our poetry unit.

More snippets later– hopefully not months later!