Posts under ‘Griselda’

The marathon is over.  The Wild Things have gone home (or what passes as home).  All that’s left is bits of ratty paper and crumbly memories strewn through my room, through me.  A school year.  Nine-ish months of intense proximity.  Just like a pregnancy, only with 20: viginitituplets?  Puts Octomom to shame.
As I look back [...]

OMG.  It’s not a fluke (as I half-feared when I went to bed last night).  They really are tamer.  Calmer.  More focused.  And most importantly, LEARNING!
I’ve never had a class like this one, where I doubted on a daily basis my ability to get through to them and teach them the standards they’re supposed to [...]

I had to do it again today.  Call the Department of Child and Family Services to report a parent.
This one haunts me for different reasons than the last one: last week, I knew the mother intended well but just needed some parenting help; today I know the mother intends bad.
This mother instructed her seven-year-old child, [...]

He’s back!  He’s better than before!  He’s José!
I met with his mother yesterday.
And his brother.
And his social worker.
You’d be surprised how many kids come with entourages these days.  It’s my second social worker conference this year.  The other one (surprise!) was Griselda’s (I just knew they had a connection).

If only their entourages brought them movie [...]

Last week José smiled. On a fairly regular basis. When he wasn’t frowning, that is.
And, he sat downstage right or left most of the time we were at the rug, rather than practically out the door and with his back to me.
I considered all this enormous progress and worked hard to acknowledge [...]

It’s the weekend. The Wild Things are roaring their terrible roars at home and not in my ears. In the silence I find myself thinking about José.
José who’s always playing with his erasers. Who sits as far away from me as possible. Who likes to be last in line and alone [...]

We all deal with it. Some more than others. All day I tried to find ways to teach physically. We were pirates (tomorrow being International Talk Like a Pirate Day). We were long vowels standing tall and short ones crouching down. We used unifix cubes all through math.

8 kids mostly [...]

There’s something about a new beginning in September that’s embedded in our life’s rhythm no matter how far we are from school. New season. New wardrobe. A new fall line-up.
A scrubbed and purposeful self ready to begin crisp new things.
Parents and teachers. We feel it more acutely. We live by [...]