Cockroaches and Craziness

Yesterday, after recess, Diana suddenly raised her hand and said calmly, "I see a cockroach."

I replied with, "Is it alive or dead?" (We often have cockroaches come out to just die).

"It's alive."

Angelie jumps on her chair, but I go on over, asking Alex to bring me a cup. It's a LARGE cockroach... about four inches long. I ask Alex if he can put the cup on top of the cockroach. He tries twice, both times having the cockroach flip the cup off itself. I grab a nearby bowl and set it on top of the cup once it's in place, though the cockroach is still fighting. A couple of the kids are trying to get a better look, so I have to tell them to sit, etc. Finally, I ask, "Who would be willing to squash the cockroach?" Alex is right next to me, and says "I will, I will!" but after he realizes the idea of putting his foot on top of that giant monster, he says, "Never mind... I change my mind." Samantha then volunteers, and comes over smiling.

Me: "Samantha, are you sure about this? I don't want you to change your mind after we lift the cup."

Samantha: "No, I'm sure."

So, we lift the cup, and Samantha, true to her word, smashes that bastard cockroach with no mercy. The kids are cheering, and the cockroach's guts are splayed about. Before I could do anything, Samantha lifts her shoe and ... SNIFFS it. Gross.

After everything is back in place and we're back to our seats, Samantha gets a worried look on her face. "Miss Sells, am I going to get rabies now?"


Later in the day, Marck asks, "Miss Sells, why do you always get the crazy kids?"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Marck: "Every year you get the weird kids."

Me: "I think the real question is, do I get the crazy kids, or do I just bring out the craziness in you?"

Teresa: "Yes! That has to be it! I was not crazy in second grade and NOW look at me!!"


I love my job.

Don't Underestimate the Coniving Eight-Year-Old

So, I have this fabulous student named Samantha, who I absolutely adore. In fact, I had her brother last year.

Her brother had an attention problem and was a resource student. I remember one time when I took him outside to talk to him privately about listening and following directions. When I asked, "Do you understand what I'm telling you?" he looked at me and said, "Your hair looks funny in the wind."

Anyway, Samantha is MUCH brighter than her brother, but has similar tendencies toward distraction. She's constantly playing with her hair or looking closely at her shoes, etc. She's very bright, but I've also caught her several times being malicious. The first week of school, one of my students was reading in a chair and she walked over and simply pushed him off of it. I still have no idea why.

Yesterday, I was having problems with her during centers cheating at the games or laughing when other people only rolled a one, etc. I pulled her aside to talk to her about her behavior. Her eyes began welling up with tears and she took on this wounded puppy dog look. It was heartbreaking, but I get a special thrill when my talks result in an emotional response. As I was finishing, I saw her lips quiver and suddenly she BEGAN LAUGHING. She was FAKE crying. She had learned already how to fake cry. I could not believe it.

So- sweet little girl, or spawn of Satan? Hard to say.

(On a tangental note, this reminded me of my youth when I cried over everything [I still do]. My dad used to tell me I was "turning on the waterworks", but I honestly felt like my crying was justified every time-- him telling me I was faking just made me feel even more sorry for myself and cry harder. This child really does just turn it on.)

Run-In with the Cynical

Sort-of funny story:

Yesterday, I was a perusing a new-find new and used bookstore, and I just happened to be in the education section, browsing. A woman walked by and said, "If you're considering a job in teaching, you should think again." Surprised, I just kind of looked at her, and she added, "Unless you're already in it..."

"Yes, I'm afraid it's too late for me!"

Woman: What do you teach?

Me: Third grade.

Woman: Me too. How long have you been teaching?

Me: This is my second year.

Woman: I've been teaching seven years.

Me: What makes you already advising others to stay away from the profession?

Woman: I love the kids. It's everything else that's driving me crazy. Especially the testing. I never thought I'd be like this, so early on in my career... And I have a hard time leaving things at home.

Me: I am having trouble with that, too.

Woman: No kidding! It's a Sunday, you're in a bookstore, and you're stuck in the Education section!

Anyway, it was interesting! Someone so against their OWN career that they would advise a complete stranger to stay away. I hope I didn't just see a future version of myself!

Solo surrounded by people

It's incredibly difficult to be in this position: a job where you are surrounded by people (parents, colleagues, and, of course, students), yet your regular, outside-of-work life is incredibly lonely. I've had (rather nosey) colleagues ask me if I go out, why I don't have a boyfriend, what I do with my time. In all honesty, I don't go out. I know no one outside of work. I don't have a boyfriend for a trillion reasons, some of the most prominent being my unattractiveness, my lack of time, and simply not knowing anyone. Even if I was completely gorgeous, is it possible to meet anyone if the only time you're away from work is your monthly trips to the grocery store or your daily trips to the mailbox? Without my job, I'd be a hermit; a shut-in; a talentless Emily Dickinson; a "New York death" in Phoenix. I wish someone would just pick me up and set me down in an already created life of friends and family. As a student, school was a natural way to make friends, but now, as a teacher, it's the opposite. I have zero local friends apart from colleagues. What do I do? Honestly, what do I do?

Because they said so...

"I don't play games with strangers, only strange people." - Diana

"Don't blame me, Miss Sells! You know me- I'm just lazy!" - Alex

Me: "Plug in the word into the sentence and tell me how it would sound."
Steven: "Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

In writing, comparing me to their last year's teacher:

Arnulfo: Miss Sells is not bore, but my last teacher man was she a bore.

Aranza: Miss Sells looked nice when I first saw her. Ms. ____ looked evil when I first saw her. Miss Sells is fun. Ms. ____ is annoying.

Luis: Last year's teacher was well I would said she was a little fat. Miss Sells is skinne.

Alexis: Now I have a teacher who dances all the time. I have never seen such a thing.

Valentine's Day: The Happiest Time of the Year for Eight-Year-Olds

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since the beginning of the year, I've been stressing how much I LOVE fractions with my kids. They responded at first with, "Why don't you marry them?" and I, in the most serious of all voices, said, "I would if it asked."

At about 7:30 this morning, I got a call from the office. Linda (our secretary) told me that there was something waiting for me in the office. When I got there there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Linda said, “They’re from fractions. That was what I was told to say. I have no idea.”

Isn’t that hilarious!? One of my colleagues had bought me flowers, and knew that I had been telling my students, practically daily, of my love. Some of the kids still don’t believe me, but I’m actually not lying when I tell them that Linda had said they were from fractions.

Also, I've received more than I ever have from Christmas or my birthday. Chocolates, stuffed gorillas, bears, dogs, singing frogs, fake flowers, coffee mugs. I joked with, "Is this give Miss Sells presents day?" One of darlings responded with, "Yes. Yes, it is."

This morning, our journal topic was "What is love?" Joe read it and started singing: "What is love? Baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more..." complete with head bobbing.

Alexis' response was "Love is when a boy gives a girl something with the word 'love' on it." Well, hopefully that's not all love is!

Spread the love, people!

Parades, pushing, pooped

A couple of things:

First, the red half circle outside of classroom doors are NOT A SUGGESTION. One of my students split her head open on the doorknob when a child whipped the door open from the inside (she was also being pushed by someone behind her).

Second, when you think of a "brilliant idea" of how to teach letter writing, make sure the prep time and money doesn't outdo the acutal influence of the project. Our root beer float taste contest (writing to the company we thought had the best root beer) was fun, but it took me a total of an hour to prep, and I had to purchase cups, ice cream, and root beer.

Two of my students and I got to walk in a parade today! Our community, Laveen, had a parade where the principals of each school rode in classic cars and students handed out candy. It was really fun!

I'm exhausted, once again, and lonely again, too. I'm in my classroom and it's nearing 6 p.m. on a SATURDAY. I'm pretty sure there's another teacher here, though, because he promised he would call before he left... My life is sad.