Humble Pie

You know how you tell someone how well something is going and then the next minute it goes to crap? Welcome to my life. My last post in October...holy cow that was a long time ago...was about how I introduced "fuzzies" into my classroom. It was wonderful. My kids were all on task. I was able to meet with groups uninterrupted because I would take a fuzzy if anyone put a toe out of line. Everything was amazing and then Halloween came...

In our school we don't celebrate Halloween and it just so happens that our first quarter ends on the 30th and we have a Professional Day on Halloween. It was this 4 day week that lead to a candy filled 3 day weekend. The kids came back and were insane a little hyper, and they had lost their minds had a hard time remembering all of the rules, strategies and wonderful behaviors they had learned. We had parent teacher conferences the following week, which meant 2 half days for kids. Then we had a full week and then a two and a half day week for Thanksgiving. I think I went 3 weeks without putting on make-up...I gave up.

Now we are in December and I have had more than one mental break down...I asked nicely, I gave out fuzzies and took them away,  I screamed raised my voice, I added brain breaks, I held class meetings, I read social stories, I changed my schedule...nothing seems to be working. Then the straw that broke the camels back was this...

My kids had a sub in art and when I came to pick them up 5 kids had written on each other with markers. I was upset furious! I had to talk with parents, who were obviously upset. People kept telling me that I needed to remember they were 5 and just laugh about it. I think under other circumstances I wouldn't have been super bothered, but after having a horrible month of feeling like nothing was working I just wanted to give up.

It is now March and I am just now sitting down, rereading this post and thinking of how far I have come. The kids have no necessarily changed all that much but I have had a change of heart. One of my teammates told me, "You can't change your kids or their behavior. You can only change yourself." I have to admit at first I was very offended. Of course I can change my students behavior! They were amazing after I wrote my fuzzy post...didn't she read it? But now I understand what she meant and know she was right. I had to realize that no amount of fuzzies, yelling, or rearranging my schedule was going to change their behavior. They simply needed consistency and time. So I have learned to give them the time and consistency and they are getting better! I have also learned not to take it personally when the kids aren't falling into line perfectly...they are 5 for goodness sakes. ;o)