Thursday, November 08, 2007

i'm drowning

Today, I had my first really, really bad class at IS Prep.

I knew it was going to be a rough start with this class when I walked in the room. The prior teacher looked battered as he left the classroom, and the kids were in full blown chaos. Chaos I can handle. I can get the students back in their seats. I can also usually scare the crap enough out of them to get them to hush up. But not today. Yes, they sat. And yes, some of them zipped their mouths.

But a number of them were in all-out bickering mode with one another. This situation, of course, is compounded with the "collaborative grouping" of desks. As CL, I know the rules regarding this. However, this is a new school, and I really want to believe that we can get these kids to swing with the arrangement. On the other hand, two hundred years of educating students in row formation does beg some questions as to validity.

I went postal about 30 minutes into the class. I flipped. I lost it. This I am not proud of. This is not the teacher I am. I worked my ass off last night refining a lesson on Powerpoint for this class, all for naught. And, I only see this class twice a week.

Arghh. I know all teachers have these moments. But I haven't had one in quite a period of time (and that includes my section of emotionally disturbed kids from last year who were totally insane).

I'm working on a plan on how to address this tomorrow. I doubt I'll have one.

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