[Editor’s note: Miss Frazzled is the pseudonym for a second-year elementary school teacher in the Bronx.]
I have a funny picture given to me by one of my college professors. It depicts an out of control high school class exhibiting about 1000 deviant behaviors: spitting, hallucinating, making rude noises (you get the picture). All the while, the teacher is sitting at her desk quietly planning a career change. The caption reads, “In our classroom tone is a many splendored thing.”
When I showed the picture to my co-teacher we laughed about it, because in our classroom tone is a many splendored thing.
I’m a collaborative team teacher in a first grade class, and we have a wonderful class with a really nice mix of students. However, we also have a couple of students who belong in a more restrictive environment, and one of those students has been waiting for placement into a d-75 setting for about a year now. So, needless to say, at times it is not unusual to see one or two students crawling underneath a desk, or having a meltdown – complete with kicking chairs and desks, and hysterical crying that can be heard throughout our floor.
But while our tone is sometimes loud, it is also loving because we strive to make everyone feel special and cared for. It is a big deal for our students to get their names on the “Acting Like a Friend” board. So it is not unusual to see five children run to the aid of one child who has just fallen off his chair, just to get their name on that board.
And when girls and boys are hurting each other’s feelings to the point of hysterical crying, we call a Feelings meeting and have everyone share their thoughts on what is going on. During rest time, we pick one child to go around and rub the backs of the other children as they rest, and the children love doing this. We get so many requests to be the back rubber.
In the morning and afternoon when we come to our class we have a child greet everyone. It is nice to see them acknowledge each other with a good morning. It is my wish that in June when they leave us for second grade, they will think back on our class and remember that in our classroom, “caring was a many splendored thing.”
