I have realized that for every day you teach on a reserve you gain the equivalency of a years experience in any public school. Therefore in the past 2 weeks I have dealt with approximately the same amount of drama as a veteran teacher of 10 years.
You may not believe me, but its true.... I offer the following story as proof.
Teaching day 3: One of our teachers was away so I was teaching the older grades and one of my students was being especially rowdy and would not do work. Every single thing becomes a power struggle and he is the most defiant, but funniest, student I have come across. He takes his hot dog (an actual hot dog- it was lunch time) and throws it and hits another student in the face. By the time I walked across the room to talk to him he had a different student in a headlock. So I gave him a purple referral, which is the worst kind- it means that you have to go to the principals, and wait until a parent came to pick you up.
He refused to take the purple referral, and was like "I dont care, try and make me go home" and would not leave. So I just stood there looking at this 11 year old boy, very aware that every student in the school was about to think I was a giant push over. Because he is right there is absolutely nothing that I could do, giving a purple referral is the worst thing in my disciplinary arsenal. I am contemplating what to do next, when all of a sudden he rushes to the back door, throws it open, and whistles. Lo and behold every stinking rez dog that loiters around the school comes bounding into the room.
So in a matter of 3 minutes, my room went from 8 students quietly eating lunch, to 4 students screaming, 3 students laughing, 4 dogs running around my room, and one student standing at the backdoor smiling maniacally- while I stand there flabbergasted.
I will have to tell TWU to add a what-to-do-when-a-student-lets-wild-animals-loose-in-your-class section to their classroom management course.
No comments:
Post a Comment