Slacker. Again.

As yet another semester draws to a close, I find myself panicking due to all the uncertainty in my life.

I have been with my kids, my group of 2nd graders, for two weeks now. We had several breakthroughs this week, where they actually paid attention to me, and I was their teacher.

While my Host Teacher is good, nice, and friendly, there is a lot more "classroom crazy" going on than I like. I am learning to adjust. I started actually teaching lessons last week. I did the spelling section Monday - Thursday. I graded their homework.
Then,

• I found myself wondering who actually studied at home.
• I noticed particular words that the entire class missed on the Spelling Pre-Test on Wednesday.
• I now can pick out my strong students, my middle line students, and my students whose parents are not involved or don't give a flip.

I love these kids- all of them, even my ADHD boy who now just stares me down as he runs from me, instead of scrunching his face up like a monster ready to attack. I am having alot of fun.

Yesterday, I had to go to my classroom at Tech. It was a somber scene all morning. I got there early, I listened to horror stories about Practicum from my peers. One guy told me that all his Host Teacher lets him do is file papers and move boxes. Another lady told me of how she is belittled. This was the first time this semester that our entire class was so quiet. There is a sense of panic about the upcoming four weeks - it is crunch time. Our Professors gave us a calendar of when to be where, what is due, what we should be working on. I am feeling more than a little overwhelmed. There is not enough hours in my day.

I am living three lives - I leave the house at 6:50 a.m., drive for 30 minutes, teach till 11 a.m. , drive for 30 minutes, go to work, pick the kids up, work till 4:30 or 5:00, go home or to soccer games or back to school. After this, I am trying to be a mom, and a wife. I have no time to be a friend. My tornado could be catastrophic, but I have Dave there, picking up my slack, backing me up with the children. I have my mother in law in the back, picking up my leftovers.

I woke up before 6 a.m. this morning, thinking about my kids at school, what I am going to do to get their attention about the lessons on Chinese culture that I am teaching next week. In my dreams I was devising word games for them to remember their vocabulary and spelling words.

I will be finished with this semester on April 30. The following week is FINALS.
So, today, I am going to work on today. Tomorrow is for tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary.

Today is our anniversary.

Happy Anniversary, Dave.

I love you bunches.

My First Kids.

***Please read the edit at the bottom***

So, I am loving L.O.V.I.N.G. my sweet little class. I am growing attached to some of the kids - we are bonding, I am learning about them and their families, and their abilities. I am learning about their strengths and weaknesses, and what I want to do for them.

I have fell in love!

There are a couple of children, in particular, that I have taken to.

One boy said some things that touched me yesterday.

Here is the story:

It is St. Patrick's Day. Everyone is wearing green. Little Dude looks at me and says, "Well, you know my brother is mostly leprechaun." Then, holding up his pointer finger and thumb close together, he says, "He only has about thismuch human blood left in him."

Ha!

Little Dude also likes to read to me. Yesterday we were reading Clifford: The Big Red Dog, and he told me that he was going to take the book home to his sister. She is autistic and LOVES big red dogs. Then, he said, "Me and My sister were twins. But she came early." Thinking that this is interesting, I said, "Wow! How old is she?" He answered, "11." (He is 8 and in 2nd grade) Musta been a difficult pregnancy. Poor mom.

Another boy that I have is diagnosed with ADHD- well, I am not so sure how this is going to work out. He doesn't like me. While I am not a fan of medicating children, I have a hard time deciding if this child needs medicine or a spanking. One day, I was asked to escort him to the library to pick out a new book. He told me to quit following him. Then, once we got in the library, he asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was going to help him find a new book. He looks at me and says, " Hey. The books I like are way over there. Why don't you go and see if you can find me one way over there." Now, he is not even beating around the bush. He tells me, "Why don't you go home?" and "Why are you still here?"

Our trouble began because he wanted me to draw him a smiley face on his reward system for RESPECTFULNESS. I told him we would talk to Host Teacher and see - and then he was told to wait 10 more minutes. So he says,"Fine. If you won't do it, I will draw it on myself."

Does ADHD cause meanness? Or just an inability to focus? Why is this kid able to focus on this attendance chart? Shouldn't he have forgotten it already?

I am not sure what I am going to do about his crankiness toward me. It has only been three days. :) It is gonna be an interesting seven weeks.


ETA~ I think my angry boy may also have something called oppositional defiant disorder. I have been researching this just because it is stressing me out. This is also translated as not liking to listen to adults. :)