You could call it frustration...

This year has been a rough one. For some reason, things are just not going as smoothly I expected or, as they did last year. I've yet to figure out the reason for this. It may be that our schedule is a bit different and causes many rushed afternoons trying to fit in my entire science lesson. It may be that my class NEVER STOPS TALKING! I'm leaning more towards my second option.

My class is so talkative, I feel like I'm just begging them to stop talking every day. I had sit down talks with them about the effects of their talking. I've expressed my concerns and frustrations to them. I've moved their desks around every way possible. I've tried the overly nice thing. I've tried being Mrs. Viola Swamp. I've done what I know to do to beg them for their consideration and to stop talking. Nothing has worked. At the end of each day, I'm left with a sense of failure. I feel like I've failed in teaching that day's lessons. I feel like I didn't do anything but ask for them to stop talking.

This semester I have an intern and she was doing a science lesson on Thursday. During this time, I was able to sit back and watch my class differently than I usually did. I was able to see my intern "beg" for them to stop talking and repeat things many times over for all the students to hear. What I saw was embarrassing. When the lesson was over, I got up and explained to them that the way she felt was the same way I feel at the end of every day, which is unacceptable. And the worst part, her supervisor was observing the lesson. Not only did that reflect poorly on her, but I felt it reflecting poorly on me because that showed my classroom management skills, or lack thereof. I don't feel I have poor classroom management skills, especially with my past classes as proof.

I've somehow got to get over this. We are only 11 weeks into school. It's way too soon for me to start feeling like I don't want to go back and summer should begin soon. When I return on Monday, each student is going to receive a note from me. On the note will be all the things I like about them and all the things they do well. Because when it came down to it, I do like each student, as an individual. But when I think of them as a class, all I think about is their obnoxious talking. Hopefully this works...