At the end of last school year , my kids left me for the summer as geniuses. ;-)
Now I receive a whole new batch of nose-picking, butt-scratching, thumb-sucking, pencil-tapping, chair-rocking, leg-swinging, rubber-necking, bladder-busting, mouth-moving, attention-fleeting, cheeto-eating, pencil-breaking, pencil-sharpening, paper-wasting, germ-carrying, name-on-paper-forgetting, water-drinking, "I don't get it"-saying, paper-popping, cologne-overdosing, selective-listening, Ritalin-needing, subtraction-forgetting, multiplication-fact-unknowing 3rd graders disguised as 4th graders.
-----whew!!
Last year's group of 4th graders (now 5th graders) was the bane of my existence. Yet as I pass them in the hallway, I long for their presence in my classroom. Am I going crazy? Please Elvie, come back... and bring your mischief with you! Hey, Jonah, bring your passive-aggressive defiance back on over to my room! Hi Elsie! I miss your very own special brand of cluelessness! Come be clueless in my classroom again! Please, I'm begging you! (She probably would, too).
At least I knew how to deal with those students. Now, I have a whole new group I need to figure out. What makes them tick? What makes them work? What makes them happy? What makes them mad? What makes them sad? What cafeteria meals make them gassy?
I told a colleague today that my new teaching dream job is: second semester 4th grade math and 1st semester 5th grade math. If I could teach my old students for the first semester in 5th grade and then hand them off to another teacher after the Christmas break, that would be wonderful! Then, I could move down to 4th grade and continue where their first-semester teacher left off. Then, the following year, I'd teach them the first semester in 5th grade! Sounds confusing.
During the first semester, the fourth graders are still babies, but by the second semester they grow into quite likable human beings. In the first semester of 5th grade, the students are still likable 4th graders, but they're gradually moving towards that nightmarish-pubescent-filled-hellish void known as middle school (middle-school teachers please pardon me---you guys are truly my heroes). By the time the second semester of 5th grade arrives, they are well on their way to the void. I myself would prefer to get off at the next stop.
Anyway, just a little aimless, wandering, rant of a blog today.
