This month at school has been hard so far and it's not promising to get any easier. Of course teaching in December is normally stressful due to the "holiday high" that comes on right after Thanksgiving break, but this year is different.
Last year my room was the only self contained classroom. This year there were so many kindergarten kids with classifications (10 boys) that the district created a seperate self contained class for them. The original intent was for both of the classes to collaborate, however that failed to happen because the kindergarten teacher tried to handle things on her own. Over the last few months we've watched as her students became more and more uncontrollable despite our attempts to intervene. A little over a week ago we had a turning point. One of the kindergarten boys, L., ran up to the teacher, pushed her down, pulled her hair, and tried to choke her. She broke down in sobs - the entire class watching the whole incident. She asked for help.
This was both good and bad. We have completely rearranged our morning routine to accomodate the kindergarten class. I spent two days last week restraining L. when he got out of hand. L. has severe anger issues due to living with an alcoholic mother and a drug dealing father. Over the course of the last week we have seen tremendous improvement in his behavior. Unfortunately the students I generally work with have regressed because of the routine change and the fact that our attention isn't solely focused on them. J., who had been saying "eat" and improving in his behavior has stopped this verbal communication and has been attacking us assistants as well as the other students by biting and scratching us. The other students have been very whiny and clingy. To top it off most of the kids are sick with some form of a cold.
We're all hoping that this stage will end when we return from Christmas break. Until then, if you think of it, please pray that we'll have the energy, endurance, and patience to deal with these new issues.
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