I really give props to all special education teachers, especially those working with autistic and life skills students. It's really not fun having to keep an eye on kids all day long and managing their behavior all day long. Chasing after little kids sucks the life out of your body by the end of the day.
I wake up at 6:30 am every day. On Monday and Wednesday, I am up and out of the door by 7:15 am, then at school by 8:10- 8:15 am. The kids doesn't come in until 9 am, but we are required to be at school by 8:30 am. I do not leave the building until 3:45 pm. On top of chasing kids around all day long, the pile of class work that goes with it just sucks the life out of a person by the end of the day.
All of the staff I work with everyday are drain to the bone by the time we leave. :P
Today, one of my student was going through an explosive behavior. He blew up a couple of times today, but mostly not my fault. The first time, his teacher told him to get off the computer and it's time for Calendar. He threw a tantrum, which the teacher aid dealt with. The second time he threw a tantrum was when I was doing my introduction lesson. He asked how do I spell (----). Mind you, I am still struggling to understand kindergarten language. I didn't understand, and he blew up at me and ran behind the wall that seperates him from the rest of the class. I gave him a couple of minutes to calm down, then join the class.
We went to lunch and ate. At lunch time, during the time he was eatting, the teacher aid cut up his peaches for him to eat. one of the piece fell on the floor, which he reach down to pick up. I praise him that he did a good job picking up the peach, but lets put it on the napkin and not eat it because it was on the floor. He did what he was told, then said something to me. I didn't understand him. He decided to pick up the piece of peach that fell on the floor and eat it. I keep on saying no, no, no. Til the peach was put between his mouth, I reach across and grab his hand away from his mouth so the peach doesn't go into his mouth all the way. I called his name a little bit too loud when I did that. Which was totally my fault. I took the piece away from him and he blew up at me. His face turn red and he started screaming at me. I was so shock and scared! The teacher aid took him outside the lunch room to deal with him and calmed him down. 10 minutes later, he came back and he tried to say sorry to me, but he was still angry and didn't look me in the face and was really rude to me. So the teacher aid was going to take him back outside, but I did a different appoarch with him. I looked at him and got down to his level, I apologized to him and said sorry for raising my voice and for scaring him, but I wanted him to know why I did what I did and kind of lecture him about eatting stuff off the floor. I started to tear up because I was still shaking from his explosive anger directed at me earlier. We shook hands, he said sorry to me and that was it. He went back to eatting the rest of his lunch.
The rest of the day, he was in and out of the classroom with his TSS. Bless the TSS, he is so patient with the kid and deal with all the stuff that comes out of that little mouth. I guess he threw a couple of tantrums here and there because he wasn't a very happy boy that day. We went on a walk and all the kids complained that they were tired and their legs were tired. Funny enough, when we got back to school, they suddenly have the energy to go on the swings and the playgrounds. hehehe
The day started out cold and cloudy but cleared up with nice warm, sunny weather by the time we went on our walk. When we got back to the classroom, all the adults were dealing with hot flashes and sweaty, smelly kids at the same time. We got the kids to sit down for snacks and water. I asked, "Who needs more water?" and one of the kids pipe up, "We all need lots of more water Miss Nhi!!!" lol All the teachers crack up laughing while we served food and water for the kids.
All the kids were on their best behavior today actually. It was better than Monday, when I was still new and they were pushing my buttons. They got used to me really quickly and got to know me today. I didn't have to deal with a lot of misbehavior at all. Even the class favorite terror was very well behaved today. He didn't run away from me, and he walked with me the whole time during our walk. I was so proud of him. We talked a lot during our walk and he actually let me hold his hands to cross the street. :P
