i'm at home now (!) and am laughing about the role this blog is playing in the lives of my family.
apparently it's quite an event when new posts are up - and my mom will read them to whoever's in the house - even if they don't know me ...
i feel loved :)
Thursday, October 13, 2005
broken hearts
one of my kids told me yesterday that his stomach hurt. a few minutes later he told me that actually it was his heart. "ms. matthews, my haht huwts. i tink it is bwoken."
(his voice, now that i think about it, is a little bit like homestarrunner's except less slurred - he is always asked for something "just for a little while" and little sounds like liTTle)
but a broken heart? poor thing. i couldn't send him to the nurse for that.
(his voice, now that i think about it, is a little bit like homestarrunner's except less slurred - he is always asked for something "just for a little while" and little sounds like liTTle)
but a broken heart? poor thing. i couldn't send him to the nurse for that.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
the smell
somehow i have neglected this important fact thus far: my room STINKS.
like, i walk in the morning and it smells like VOMIT - to the point of gagging, which i don't do too easily.
it usually is aired out by the time the kids get in there, but the last few days it's been cooler (don't get me wrong, i am *very* glad) and so we've had fewer of the windows cracked ... the smell comes back very quickly.
yesterday when we had the shoe incident, i sort of discovered the source. up near the ceiling there is a big hole in the wall. it's unfinished duct work i think, but w/out the metal siding - just a big nasty hole. i climbed up there (a chair on top of a table with one of kids holding the chair - bad idea, i know) in the search for the missing (still) shoe. i stuck my head toward the hole and BAM! i'm surprised i didn't fall off. the smell was TERRIBLE. and it's a big tunnel that goes to who know where. so the source of the stink is somewhere in there. i do not know what to do, but it is bad. worse than a dead mouse or something like that - it's more like a dead cat. UGH.
every day, this is what greets me as i walk into my classroom.
(oh and it is 'disguised' by a glade air freshner in the scent of citrus fruit or something which really makes the smell just more pungent. i shudder just thinking about this combination.)
like, i walk in the morning and it smells like VOMIT - to the point of gagging, which i don't do too easily.
it usually is aired out by the time the kids get in there, but the last few days it's been cooler (don't get me wrong, i am *very* glad) and so we've had fewer of the windows cracked ... the smell comes back very quickly.
yesterday when we had the shoe incident, i sort of discovered the source. up near the ceiling there is a big hole in the wall. it's unfinished duct work i think, but w/out the metal siding - just a big nasty hole. i climbed up there (a chair on top of a table with one of kids holding the chair - bad idea, i know) in the search for the missing (still) shoe. i stuck my head toward the hole and BAM! i'm surprised i didn't fall off. the smell was TERRIBLE. and it's a big tunnel that goes to who know where. so the source of the stink is somewhere in there. i do not know what to do, but it is bad. worse than a dead mouse or something like that - it's more like a dead cat. UGH.
every day, this is what greets me as i walk into my classroom.
(oh and it is 'disguised' by a glade air freshner in the scent of citrus fruit or something which really makes the smell just more pungent. i shudder just thinking about this combination.)
sigh
SO the kid i got in exchange was one from the beginning of the year -
he reminds me of a kid you may have heard me talk about - wayne, who's in 2nd grade, from m-fuge/n. philly. like, he is built like him, talks like him, has a bright smile like him, has anger management problems like him ...
he *is* wayne in 4 years if no one good gets to wayne first. he even did a back flip in my classroom today. just like wayne.
he looked up at me this morning when they brought him to my room and said, 'ms matthews i'm baaaack' with this wide grin. his mom said he hasn't stopped talking about wanting to get back in my class since they switched him.
it is SO hard to see him each time i do - and now every day. i feel like my heart tears every time he smiles. his hands are all wrinkly and chapped, from who knows what, and he can't read or write. could barely write numbers from 1 - 10 today. wanted me to call his mom to tell her he's being good for me. aw in that tiny little body there is so much hurt and pain and anger.
daaah. i am crying now. this could very well happen every day.
he reminds me of a kid you may have heard me talk about - wayne, who's in 2nd grade, from m-fuge/n. philly. like, he is built like him, talks like him, has a bright smile like him, has anger management problems like him ...
he *is* wayne in 4 years if no one good gets to wayne first. he even did a back flip in my classroom today. just like wayne.
he looked up at me this morning when they brought him to my room and said, 'ms matthews i'm baaaack' with this wide grin. his mom said he hasn't stopped talking about wanting to get back in my class since they switched him.
it is SO hard to see him each time i do - and now every day. i feel like my heart tears every time he smiles. his hands are all wrinkly and chapped, from who knows what, and he can't read or write. could barely write numbers from 1 - 10 today. wanted me to call his mom to tell her he's being good for me. aw in that tiny little body there is so much hurt and pain and anger.
daaah. i am crying now. this could very well happen every day.
for the love.
my goodness.
today, despite my best efforts, was another rotten day. especially frustrating was the fact that it wasn't the "usuals" acting up.
first, my fried chicken girl got moved to another class. the frustrating phone call from last week was with her mom, who told me that she was tired of the boys picking on her daughter and if i couldn't control my class, she wanted her out of it. so, the cutie-turned-crazy-but-still-fundamentally-really-cute-and-plus-i-had-learned-how-to-deal-with-her girl is no longer in my class (which brings the girl to boy ratio way down to 1:4).
today, despite my best efforts, was another rotten day. especially frustrating was the fact that it wasn't the "usuals" acting up.
first, my fried chicken girl got moved to another class. the frustrating phone call from last week was with her mom, who told me that she was tired of the boys picking on her daughter and if i couldn't control my class, she wanted her out of it. so, the cutie-turned-crazy-but-still-fundamentally-really-cute-and-plus-i-had-learned-how-to-deal-with-her girl is no longer in my class (which brings the girl to boy ratio way down to 1:4).
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
the sad things
i found out a number of these today:
- one kid was gone most of last week because of a death in the family. i found out today when he gave me the funeral service notice that it wasn't a random great aunt or something - it was his brother's baby, who never made it out of the hospital. the card has a teddy bear on it. one kid started giving him a hard time thinking he was joking about why he was gone, then the poor kid snapped.
- another kid's dad moved out yesterday. the dad thinks the mom "had another man in the house," according to my student, who told me ALL the details, from what was said, the suspicions, and what the kid thought. this kid had a particularly rough day today.
- yet another student wrote me a note about how he spend the weekend with his mom. i know for a fact that she has been in and out of drug rehab for her whole life, left him in the hospital when he was born, and he has never lived with her. she apparently lives somewhere with two other sons. he watched the dvd of james and the giant peach and was in absolute heaven. heart-warming and -breaking all at the same time.
- another kid (the one who lost the shoe) ran her mouth from the *moment* that shoe was discovered missing to the moment i pulled up in front of her house (total: 1 hour or so) about how she was gonna see the belt about this, about what her dad would do, about the fights her parents get in ...
it helps me understand why they are the way they are, but it doesn't make it any easier ...
- one kid was gone most of last week because of a death in the family. i found out today when he gave me the funeral service notice that it wasn't a random great aunt or something - it was his brother's baby, who never made it out of the hospital. the card has a teddy bear on it. one kid started giving him a hard time thinking he was joking about why he was gone, then the poor kid snapped.
- another kid's dad moved out yesterday. the dad thinks the mom "had another man in the house," according to my student, who told me ALL the details, from what was said, the suspicions, and what the kid thought. this kid had a particularly rough day today.
- yet another student wrote me a note about how he spend the weekend with his mom. i know for a fact that she has been in and out of drug rehab for her whole life, left him in the hospital when he was born, and he has never lived with her. she apparently lives somewhere with two other sons. he watched the dvd of james and the giant peach and was in absolute heaven. heart-warming and -breaking all at the same time.
- another kid (the one who lost the shoe) ran her mouth from the *moment* that shoe was discovered missing to the moment i pulled up in front of her house (total: 1 hour or so) about how she was gonna see the belt about this, about what her dad would do, about the fights her parents get in ...
it helps me understand why they are the way they are, but it doesn't make it any easier ...
in the same boat
for once - my kids and i are ALL nervous about what is going to happen friday when i am gone.
secretly i think i hope the sub doesn't show and a random other teacher gets my class all day (so there is more witness to these kids).
secretly i think i hope the sub doesn't show and a random other teacher gets my class all day (so there is more witness to these kids).
unbelievable
i just got home, after having dropped off one of my students at her house. why did i drive her home? you may ask. oh, simple answer ... she was missing a shoe.
huh? yes. the end of the day comes, and this girl (formerly knowed as the farter ... fortunatly the gas has passed) starts yelling, "matthew (she forgets both the ms. and the s always) my shoe missin'" the boys usually mess with her and so i interrogate them (this all in the midst of another fight, by the way) ... they swear they haven't seen it. last i saw she was reading in the back with both shoes off. i didn't see either shoe - ever.
so i have to call her mom and tell her that her kid's shoe is missing, that i won't make her take the bus with one shoe (i cannot even IMAGINE the ridicule), i'll drive her home after we look for the shoe. one hour later, no shoe and one unhappy (but, thankfully, very kind) mother later, i am on my way home.
who goes to school and loses their SHOE?
and what kind of teacher has that happen in their classroom?
huh? yes. the end of the day comes, and this girl (formerly knowed as the farter ... fortunatly the gas has passed) starts yelling, "matthew (she forgets both the ms. and the s always) my shoe missin'" the boys usually mess with her and so i interrogate them (this all in the midst of another fight, by the way) ... they swear they haven't seen it. last i saw she was reading in the back with both shoes off. i didn't see either shoe - ever.
so i have to call her mom and tell her that her kid's shoe is missing, that i won't make her take the bus with one shoe (i cannot even IMAGINE the ridicule), i'll drive her home after we look for the shoe. one hour later, no shoe and one unhappy (but, thankfully, very kind) mother later, i am on my way home.
who goes to school and loses their SHOE?
and what kind of teacher has that happen in their classroom?
Monday, October 10, 2005
a short story
this is a story that 3 of my kids wrote for me last week (uneditted):
"onec upon a time it was a little girl name ms. matthews sher grow up to be come a teacher. then the principal said Ms. Matthews you going to be teacher 6 graed then Ms. Matthews said am going to teaching 6 graed yes said the principal that horrible said ms. matthews I hope the 6 graed is not bad said the teacher then when the teahe open the door she was not very suprised because the class was being bad and then Ms Matthews said put your heads down and don't get back up and then she had to go to the office to get something and when she left out and then they got back up out of there seat and when she come back in all the lights was off and she turned them on and said BOO and then every body screamed loud and then Ms. Matthews started laughing and said that I got you guys and then she said lets get to work. Then she said that this hole class had a great day and then we all had free time The End"
"onec upon a time it was a little girl name ms. matthews sher grow up to be come a teacher. then the principal said Ms. Matthews you going to be teacher 6 graed then Ms. Matthews said am going to teaching 6 graed yes said the principal that horrible said ms. matthews I hope the 6 graed is not bad said the teacher then when the teahe open the door she was not very suprised because the class was being bad and then Ms Matthews said put your heads down and don't get back up and then she had to go to the office to get something and when she left out and then they got back up out of there seat and when she come back in all the lights was off and she turned them on and said BOO and then every body screamed loud and then Ms. Matthews started laughing and said that I got you guys and then she said lets get to work. Then she said that this hole class had a great day and then we all had free time The End"