I need to post a sign on my door that says, "NO TEARS BEYOND THIS POINT!" I've written before about a student I have who has cried many times in class. Today, I might have screamed if I had seen/heard one more child cry. I might be more understanding if this was something I could prevent, but the reasons for the tears was beyond my control.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The moment I walk in the door after I brought the kids into my classroom, I turn around to see William holding his shoulder walking towards me. This particular kid is complaining of something on a daily basis. Last Friday he had "chicken pox on his foot". I looked...they weren't foot chicken pox, but rather an irritation from something he stepped on. The pain that he felt with that irritation prompted him to shed a few tears. It also made him pay 40 tickets to have it shoes off for the day because having them on was just too painful, and I wouldn't allow him no shoes without payment. Back to today...William walks up holding his shoulder. I ignore the words he begins to utter and respond with, "Go sit down. I don't need to hear about it."
W: "But it really hurts."
Me: "It has not even been 2 minutes. You cannot have hurt yourself in those few minutes."
W: "I hurt it yesterday."
Me: "Great! Your parents already know about it, there is nothing I can do. You need to have a seat. I am NOT sending you to the nurse."
W: "But they don't know about it."
Me: "There is still nothing I can do. It did not happen at school. You should have already told your parents about it. You have work on your desk."
W: Heads to his desk and begins to cry.
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2. Every day for lunch, I ask kids to raise their hand who would like to be door holders. Lunch is a special time with different door holders than any other time of the day. I noticed one kid was already getting up, assuming that I would call on him. I purposely did NOT call on him because of this. He began to cry! (There must have been something else, because this should not make any kid cry.)
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3. Today was the reward day for a fundraiser that was done a couple months ago. The reward was a gaming trailer that kids got to play in for 30 minutes. All I knew was that I had a list of kids who earned the prize and what time I should send them. As I told those specific kids that they could go, another kid asked if he had earned the reward. He said his said had told him that he sold lots of stuff and should have earned it. When I informed him that his name was not on the list, he broke out into boo-hooing tears!
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4. As we began our writing warm-up I noticed Elliot was sitting at his desk with a look of frustration. I walk up and ask, "What's wrong?"
E: "I lost my pencil."
Me: "There are plenty of pencils in the classroom."
E: "It was important to me."
Me: "I understand it was important, but you are missing out on writing time right now." (He had another look of frustration come over him.)
E: "I know and that makes me mad too."
Me: "So what are you going to do about this missing pencil?"
E: "I don't know."
Me: "Well, if you don't have a solution, I think you need to find a different pencil and start working."
E: "But, but..."
Me: "It is work time. Get going."
E: Begins very audible crying and very visible tears.
He continues to audibly cry throughout share time and my writing mini lesson. I now have to stop the student who is sharing and ask, "Elliot, we are unable to hear. I need you to go to the back of the classroom so that you do not disturb us anymore."
I can STILL hear him from the back of the room, but I ignore. If you have forgotten, I would like to remind you that this dramatic crying is all over a pencil!
As we return to our desks after the mini lesson, Elliot also returns to his, in an even more dramatic way. He walks to his desk, very noticeably, and begins to pound on it with his fist. My aid and I just stand and watch in amazement. I am having a very hard time believe that this is all stemming from that lost pencil.
Me: "Elliot, I can see that you are very upset, but like I said earlier. You will need to find another pencil and work right now. Your pencil is missing and you will have time to look for it after you finish your work." (Did you like how I first acknowledged his feelings? Man was that hard. I wanted to get mad at him for still being so difficult over a pencil, but managed to come out with the appropriate response.)
A few more things were angrily thrown off of his desk (by him) and a few more desk poundings were done before he began crying again. This cry was legitimate. Because of his behavior and how it affected his classroom work, I had to send a note home. This is not the first time and it is one form of communication I use with his parents. He was very upset, knowing that he would be in a great deal of trouble once he got home. His dad is very hard on him, but the results are usually positive the next day. Or so I'm hoping...since today was especially dreadful.
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5. This one is not about crying, but about the lack of crying. Today I was catching kids up with some missing work at the end of the day. I shared grades with one child. These grades were not good: 9, 34, 28, 67, and 58. If it were me, I would have flooded a river in the classroom. His reaction was nothing. He said, "Okay!" WHAT?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!? You have not turned in more than half of the assignments we've done in the last 3 weeks and you don't seem to think that's a problem? WOAH! Parent phone call here I come...
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