[Editor’s note: No-sleep-till-Brooklyn is the pseudonym for a second-year kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn.]
Grandpa, Dennis the Menace, Betty Crocker, and a jelly bean. Oh the personalities represented in my classroom.
Today Dennis the Menace made a few poor choices. Hitting, scratching, yelling – generally naughty things. After constantly reprimanding and taking away privileges from Dennis, the other students began to sigh and groan whenever he did the wrong thing. Just before the day was out, Dennis pulled his last trick out of the bag and was about to fling a coin across the room when Grandpa hopped up from his shape on the rug and forcefully blurted out, “NO, don’t!” Dennis, a bit startled, turned and made a face – but he put the coin away.
I really appreciate students who listen to their classmates.
Yesterday my jelly bean was literally bouncing off everything in sight: chairs, the rug, the counter and the walls. I sat him down and soberly told him that he needed to take OFF his old self and put on his new, less jumpy self. We did this together. Then he politely walked back to his seat and went to work. Today, ol’ jelly bean was back. Before I even addressed the issue, Betty Crocker approached him quietly and whispered, “But where is your new self??”
Again, I really appreciate students who listen to their classmates.
While all is mostly fabulous in my classroom, the rest of the school is not faring so well. One teacher quit, another is halfway fired, subs won’t come in anymore, and the new teachers are drowning. I empathize with the new teachers and am doing my best to check in often, offer my help, and be there with a cheery response when they ask, “Does it get any better? Please tell me it gets better.” But I can only do so much.
And then I get to thinking, Why is this? My school isn’t the only one with overwhelmed new teachers. My school isn’t the only one with teachers quitting after the first month. Is it possible to eliminate those occurrences? How can new teachers get trained so they are ready for what awaits them?
The students come into school with their own problems and circumstances – those cannot be changed. But teachers coming in with confidence issues, management issues, teaching issues . . . this can be changed, and for the better. Now if only we could figure out how . . .
