Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Drama, old and new

Sorry for the lack of posts. I actually tried, several times, to post about my 2nd annual Candy Corn Day (see last year's here), but I was having a lot of trouble getting pics to show up. I don't know if it was my computer or Blogger or what. I think I'll post it when I'm done with this one, but I'll have to back date it. Anyway. Onto the drama.

Miss F's 3rd grade is still out of control. I took the advice of some of my readers (thank you, all!) and decided to take a different approach to our mentoring sessions. I talked to her last week and asked her if we could meet every Wednesday for about 15-20 minutes to discuss whatever concerns we have. I figured we could pick ONE thing to focus on each week, to make things less confusing for her. We met last Wednesday and talked about how to get her kids to behave. Her goal for the week was to make a chart of rules, rewards and consequences to be posted in the classroom (I gave her suggestions that are appropriate for 3rd grade). This week's goal is going to be actually using the chart and following through on the rewards and consequences. I feel a little bit better about the whole situation.

So that's the old drama. The new drama is that our 7th grade teacher (who is new this year) has been having a lot of trouble with her class this year. She handed in her resignation yesterday. Apparently, a few of the 7th grade boys have accused her of "shoving" and "pushing" them. Of course I don't know for sure if it actually happened, but I highly doubt that it did. She is a very professional teacher and she has been trying all year to get her class in order. The boys who made the accusations all have a history of fighting, defiance, disrespect, and general misbehavior. From what I understand, the 7th grade teacher didn't feel that Principal gave her enough support in this situation. I also got the impression that this has been escalating in her classroom for quite awhile, and little was done to help her. It's going to be a rough couple of weeks upstairs. I'm kinda glad I'm not involved in all that.

You know what's funny? Neither of those stories had anything to do with my class. I'm telling you, I got supremely lucky this year. My kids are angels. It's all good in first grade. :-)

2 comments:

Msabcmom said...

I love the candy corn idea for non standard measurement. What a great idea! I will have to do it too! Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

I don't think your principal is very supportive to any of his/her teachers, esp. the new ones. 7th grade is a rough row to hoe for experienced teachers.