- Drained of one's physical or mental resources; very tired.
- Completely used up.
April 3rd:
Walked to school early this morning so I could assign new seats to my rowdy class. They protested, but in the end (by the goodness of God), they all sat where I told them. I tried to let their other teachers know that I had made the seating assignments ... the lack of communication is a major downfall at the school. It is easy for the students to divide and conquer because teachers depend on the "responsible" students to tell them what is happening in the class. I used the extra time to prep for my class and grade art books (I am falling behind there as math takes up so much time.) When I walked into class, the atmosphere was much different - quieter, students not as sure in themselves because their clique had been separated, more attentive. I explained that the room was divided into two teams. If one team lost their break, everyone on the team would lose their break, but the other team would not have to sit on the wall with them. I also explained that I would award stars to each team, which would count towards extra points on their last test (only three students received higher than a 50%). I would take away stars from the entire team for individual misbehavior. This system made my work much easier as I didn't have to worry about which student misbehaved (they like to trick me and then blame the others). Instead, I could just look at general behavior on each side of the room (I put the better students in the middle as a buffer), and penalize or reward the entire team. I did reward the team a few times for a specific individual's behavior (interesting to see how some of the worst students in the class really straightened up when they were accountable to their team). The team I thought would have more problems actually did much better than I expected (I put most of the loud, noisy ones on the same team, not wanting to penalize the good students if it was only the handful acting out.) It was intriguing to see how the dynamic shifted when all the "bad" students were grouped together.
Went to my third grade art class afterwards and it took them quite awhile to quiet down. Thankfully, once the project started they settled down. It wears me out to discipline more than I teach! In art we are working on creating stories (developing the characters using detail and color, explaining what happens to the characters using emotions and actions, and then concluding the story). By the end of the year, my goal is to have them create their own storybook.
During my next break, I had my first parent conference. One of the students in my rowdy class does not speak English very well and has a difficult time understanding because of some developmental delays. (He sits quietly in class.) Even though he gets a hundred percent on his homework, he didn't answer any questions on the last test. I wanted to write a letter to his mother to find out if he actually understood the concepts and had difficulty because of the English barrier or if someone at home was doing the work for him. Apparently the administration asked her to come in to address his lack of participation in class. I was able to talk with her first and she assured me that she works with him at home, but that he is able to do all the homework himself. It was encouraging to see first-hand a parent advocating for her child in this culture. The administration and other teachers agreed to send written instructions to her so she could help her son, but eventually they will need to see participation. I am really pulling for him ... hopefully we can help!
My afternoon class was not so good. I will have to try something new. They are not good listeners, so at the end of an explanation I have one or two ... six or seven students telling me at different intervals that they don't understand. I also had to address some cheating issues (with the same students who tried to "cheat" on copying sentences as punishment.)
At 1pm, I fell in love with a new group of students, some first graders that I subbed for. They don't hold a candle to Eithen, but they were awfully sweet. Afterwards I sat in the sunshine and graded some math, then headed home. Rested up and finished grading before going over to the spelling bee practice at John and Mary's. We had a fun time again. I think it's neat that that the kids interact with me more at school since meeting me at last week's practice.
Starving by the time we finished, so John, Mary, (Henry), and I went out to Texas Chicken. Saw a beautiful sunset - one of the times that you can see the beauty and sense the power of the sun. Ate a great sandwich (tried a different one this time) and enjoyed "splurging" on dessert too.
When I got home, Stacy was throwing a birthday party for one of her friends' little boys. The neighbor kids came over too. They enjoyed teaching me new Kurdish words and I taught them to play thumb wars. We also played a couple hand games (like "Miss Mary Mack," but with Kurdish verses). Afterwards, Mary and I watched "The Hunger Games." We'd been trying to find it since it came out (no such thing as copyright law here), but without success until tonight. It was a terrible copy, but fun to watch after enjoying the book so much with Hannah. (Han and I were both disappointed that we wouldn't get to watch it together.)
Crashed into bed at 11:30...
April 4th:
Got an email from home first thing this morning:
"Tonight Jaden wanted to pray for you at bedtime. He said that we should pray that when you come home in your truck that you will have enough gas ... Eithen piped up, "Not truck! Airplane!" Also, I [Mom] was on the computer today (remember Dad put up your picture as the desktop background)... Well, Eithen was being very quiet while I checked the emails, checked the blog, etc. While I was working away, he crawled up onto Dad's desk, scooted over to the computer and, as if telling an imaginary person next to him, he said, "Sissy rrrriiight there" while trying to point to your picture, pointing UNDER the page I was on and looking as if up/under it!"
Even though it made me cry to know that he misses me and to feel how much I miss him, I was happy to know that Eithen hasn't forgotten about me and keeps me in his imaginary play.
The rowdy class went pretty well today. One team lost their first break, but at least I don't have kids jumping all over the classroom anymore. Having three classes in a row with only one break in between was exhausting, not to mention the first class takes up all my energy. Need to either figure out a way to rejuvenate during the 15 minute break or build up my stamina. None of my art classes have really settled back into the routine, so I feel like I am starting all over again.
I was mentally and emotionally worn out by the time my half hour lunch break came around. Felt a little re-energized for the 12:15 math class and was able to lay out what I expect to see on their homework. (This is the class that needs to have everything spelled out AND repeated several times.) At times it really feels like I am teaching two completely different subjects when I switch between the fourth grade classes - my teaching method has to move from interactive and fluid to repetitious and written.
By the time I got to the 1:45 art class, I was not feeling very well. I had to pray several times for the physical strength to project my voice across the classroom. The students didn't respond to any instruction. Before the Newroz break, they had been my most affectionate and responsive class. After a half hour of constant interruption from all but three students, I collected their art books and left the room. (I had warned them this might happen if they continued to misbehave.) I asked another teacher to let them know when they could leave class and she ended up reprimanding them for treating me so poorly. After asking me to come back to the class, she spoke sharply to the students and told them not to come to class if they weren't going to listen. She followed it up by asking them if they were the teacher or if I was the teacher (that's a good line to remember - my mom used that one all the time!) She told me I could leave, then continued to chew them out ... I left praying that I had done the right thing and hopeful that this will be a wake-up call to the students.
It is starting to get uncomfortably warm ... not time to complain yet though :) When I got home, I sat in my chair and read for a little bit, then took a nap for almost an hour. When Stacy got home, we went to Sarky's for dinner. It was nice to hang out, just the two of us. I came home and caught up on emails, thankful when the electricity only went out for a few minutes (our generator isn't working, so if city goes off, we're in the dark ... literally.)
Ready for an early bed.
