We will be....

We will be safe. We will be respectful. We will be listeners. We will be learners. Four simple ways of being in a community. A community of learners. Four simple things that 11 four year olds need to be explicitly taught. I love what I do but then a day like yesterday happens and Im left reflecting on how much they need to be taught and how I taught it to other groups of students in the past.

Yesterday the kids seemed rowd y and some of them were down right rude. It was our tenth day together as a classroom community. Prior to yesterday it felt as if everything was going smoothly. The kids seemed able to adhere to the simple we will be's described above. The kids seemed eager to be at school and even more eager to learn. Yesterday felt like the first day of school all over again. Why? What happened?

Well for starters the newest and also the youngest member of our community joined us at the beginning of the week. While I don't like the way the administration handled it, ( with no specific advanced notice, just brought him down in the middle of the morning. I mean I was told that he was coming but was never told when), I would rather have new students NOW when everyone is still sort of new then say in February. As great as this new person is, his presence still affected the group dynamic.

Additionally, there were two students in the classroom who were each absent for two days. One student was absent on Monday and Thursday. When I spoke with the parent about this she basically lied to me. Her statement was very contradictory but she was unable to realize the irony of what she was saying. Another student was absent for health reasons in the middle of the week. This second student is particularly active and loud. So when they both came back on Friday, I think they had forgotten some of the "wewillbes" in class. Also, it appeared that the other students had partially forgotten them, and treated them like a novelty.

Finally there was all the bs that doesnt pertain to children directly. On Monday, I learned that a class I had signed up for through my school district was cancelled. If I had learned this before I left the building it wouldnt be a problem. But I only found out after taking the train into downtown and wasting some time and money. On Tuesday we had open house. It was wonderful to see some parents, but of course I did not see everyone or the people I actually wanted to see. Thursday we had professional development and it was truly ridiculous and wasteful of valuable time. So by Friday, I was tired from a normal work week plus a little mentally beaten down from all of this other stuff.