Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Power of One Part II

So these past two weeks have been a roller coaster of excitement (NOT!).  It started on the 9th when I had to send Ms. W to the emergency room because she had such a terrible infection that she was in constant pain, but still showed up to teach.  She is always a trooper, but I knew that she needed to get better before she could come back to work.  So she was gone for Thursday and Friday.

It amazes me how I got anything done before I had her support and help every day.  Granted, I didn't have quite this group of kids to deal with in the past, but still, she is an amazing support!  I know that I depend on her for a lot of things, but it hasn't been obviously shoved in my face like it was when she was gone.  I really struggled those two days to keep it all together on my own.  The kids were feeling my stress and reacting accordingly (which means that they were trying my last nerve.)  By the end of the day Friday, I thought that I was going to collapse from exhaustion or have a nervous breakdown or do both simultaneously.

So my thought on the power of one is that this job is too hard for any ONE person to do alone.  I can manage the behavior and I can teach the academic lessons, but trying to do the two at the same time is difficult at best.  Also, I realize how much I depend on having an adult to talk to during the day to keep me sane.  We laugh and joke and encourage each other all day long.  Ms. W is ONE person in my school life that I cannot do without!  It is a terrible pity that excellent para's like Ms. W are paid such meager wages for all that they do to help the kids.  She is one of the best teachers that I have even known, even without the fancy license and degree.

The thing is, that the next week, on Tuesday the 14th, I had to go to the doctor for an ear infection and missed a day of school.  I was really worried about leaving Ms. W with the kids and a sub.  She was so great though!  She assured me that everything would be fine and that the kids would make it through the day without too many problems.  I was sure that she was right.  I have full confidence that Ms. W will keep all the balls in the air (a juggling metaphor to mix them all in together) while I have to be gone. 

I really started to think about having both of us being sick and not having our team together.  I think that the kids actually do better when I am gone than when Ms. W is gone!  I was starting to feel like the un-necessary person in my classroom.  It just goes to show, that when ONE essential person *** Ms. W*** is gone, it changes everything.  I probably need to let her know more often how much she means to me and to our students.  So this post is an homage to her!  The fabulous partner in my continuing adventures in teaching this year!

MS. W, I LOVE YOU!  YOU ARE THE BEST!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Power of One

It is amazing to me how powerful the number one is.  It can make the difference between a great day and a not so good one.  If you add one more student to a group, you totally shift the dynamics of that group.  I took a really great class in college called Small Group Communication.  We talked a lot about how groups interact with each other and the dynamics of group interactions.  I thought that it was a fascinating class, and I learned so much!  I think back to that class all the time.  I find that when working one on one with students at different times, their personalities stay essentially the same, but when I am working with groups, the addition or subtraction of even one student totally changes everything! 

Last week we added a new student to our classroom on a temporary basis.  This student has a lot of medical needs that our school just isn't capable of dealing with.  He was with me until they could work out a school situation that would better meet his needs.  Adding that new student totally changed the atmosphere of my classroom.  We had done a great job of teaching procedures and rules so that our day flowed smoothly.  With the new student, it threw us all off kilter.  Students who had not been showing behaviors started acting out, and it felt like chaos was reining in my room.  This was so frustrating to me.  I had hoped that we could just get through that one week with my new student without turmoil.

Needless to say, this week we went back to the beginning and started learning procedures again.

I also lost a student who moved to a new school last week.  She was one of my two girls.  Losing her has really made me sad.  She was my oldest student, a 5th grader, and she was such a delight in our classroom.  She was really starting to open up and becoming a real leader in our room.  I will really miss her smile and her stories everyday.  I believe that I have something to learn from each of my students, and V really taught me the power of a simple smile. 

So now my classroom is down to 6 students.  This worries me because I always say that whenever you lose one, you will probably get 2 more that are twice as bad move in.  So we await our next addition with baited breath...  I am sure that we will find a better way to help the next ones feel at home in our room and keep the peace that we have fought so hard for!