I just had that year again. The year where my class was "that" class. The class that the specials teachers dread having. The class that always has people in it observing a student for behavior documentation. The class that makes the office staff cringe when my number shows up on the caller ID because who knows what a kid did this time. The class that makes me learn a whole lot about becoming a better teacher.
Interestingly enough, the last time I had "that" class was 2 years ago... with this groups older siblings. Luckily, the older siblings were all wonderfully amazing children, who will probably become some of my favorite students of all time - just like these guys. Man, a student (or a group of students) can really make or break you as a teacher!
Immediately after I had that class a few years ago, I felt horrible. I've learned a lot from my own personal experiences, advice from colleagues, and professional development classes I've taken along the way. I wished that I knew what I know now before I had that class because things would have been so different. I kept thinking things like:
"If I had known this I would have done... "
"I wish I had known this when ___ happened..."
"I wish I tried ___ with this kid..."
"Next time I have 'that' class things will be different!"
**Be careful with this one because "that" class will be back before you know it!**
It got me thinking about sharing things I learned about how to handle the extremely difficult children in your classroom. Those college courses do NOT prepare you for a difficult class and it can have a huge effect on your health, as well as the "health" of your classroom. I initially planned on writing one blog post about what I learned from having difficult classes, but it ended up being way longer than I anticipated - so I'll be writing a series about this each week over the summer.
It got me thinking about sharing things I learned about how to handle the extremely difficult children in your classroom. Those college courses do NOT prepare you for a difficult class and it can have a huge effect on your health, as well as the "health" of your classroom. I initially planned on writing one blog post about what I learned from having difficult classes, but it ended up being way longer than I anticipated - so I'll be writing a series about this each week over the summer.
Check back June 1st - I'll be writing about how taking care of yourself in the midst of dealing with the craziness students this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment