When the students came in this morning and saw the bulletin board, it was like Christmas morning. They were all over there looking at everyone's pictures and talking about how cool it was. I even had a student shout, "Miss Trundle, you're the best!". It definitely put a smile on my face!
I have a student in my class who seems to always be in trouble for something - he's not doing anything, he's out of his seat wandering around the room, he's doing everything he can to avoid doing what he is supposed to be. I've had quite a roller coaster of a week with him. On Monday, I noticed that he was sitting at his desk doing nothing. I told him that he needed to have a book out to read or be working on his mystery picture. He said, "Can't I just play my mind game?" so I asked him what his mind game was, and he explained "it's like a video game that I made up to play in my head when I get bored". I told him no, he couldn't just play his mind game. Later that day, when the rest of the class was a little bit rowdy, I noticed that he was sitting quietly in his seat, waiting for directions. Or so I thought. I said "Nathan is setting a good example right now". His response - "What? I'm just sitting here playing my mind game...". That compliment backfired on me. On Tuesday, I met with him for a writer's workshop conference. His story was goofy; it was about how he wanted to play games on the computer but his brother was on it and wouldn't let him have a turn. However, he included all of the things I've taught them about and asked them to use in their writing. He had an exciting beginning (more than just Today I...), he used dialogue, he had feeling in his story, he had detail, punctuation, capital letters where necessary... I was floored! I couldn't believe he had actually been listening to me that entire time. I praised him a lot for his efforts, and he seemed pretty proud of himself. That day was a good day. Today, however, was a not-so-good day. The first thing that happened - I walked by the bathroom we have in our classroom, and he was standing in there with the door wide open going to the bathroom. He turned and looked at me with this huge smile on his face, and I said "Nathan! Why don't you have the door closed!?" I couldn't believe it, but other students noticed and he was pretty embarrassed by the incident. Later on, we were working on dictionary skills. Mrs. Miller told them if they didn't get at least 4 words done, they had to stay in class to finish instead of going to gym. Suddenly, Nathan came up to the desk and said he didn't feel good. He didn't look very good either, but when I went over to his desk I saw that he hadn't completed any of his words. Mrs. Miller sent him down to the clinic, but as I thought about it and how smart he can be, I realized that the clinic is located right across the hall from the gym. I said something to Mrs. Miller about how I thought he might've faked it so he could go to gym, and at first she said "Oh, no, he wouldn't do that..." so I thought I would go check on him in the clinic. He, of course, was not in there. I found him in gym class, running around having a great time. Needless to say, he was pulled out of gym and forced to sit with his head down for the rest of the day. He is in serious trouble. He is quite a trip; I actually enjoy having him because I know it'll never be a boring day!
I will miss my first day of student teaching tomorrow - this head cold has finally defeated me. I have had chills all day and my poor nose is so red and raw I can barely touch it. I'm headed to the doctor tomorrow morning and will take a day to let my medicine kick in and get rid of this stuff!
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