I have a good class this year.

Each year is different, and you try to look for positives with each group. Last year’s class will always be special to me because they were my first class here. They were so dramatic! Everything was an assault to the very fiber of their being and if resolution was not found, oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Well, ok, maybe not quite that bad, but they were a handful all the same.

This year’s group has its own unique set of issues. I have a class of 21, with 8 students involved in our extended learning program right now (TAG for those of us who remember), and a bunch who really struggle with both reading and math. In other words, there is no middle, which is ok.

They are nice kids which makes all the difference. If they are doing something they shouldn’t, they are easily redirected. They love praise. They feed off the positive interactions, and I’m all for that energy.

BUT (There’s always a but statement)

Yesterday, I could feel the newness of school had worn off. I had kids telling me that “the boys are swearing in Spanish”. Then, a group of students came to me saying that person, “was being mean at recess.”

Good grief.

And it went like this for most of the day. If they are complaining, my first reply usually is “What’s your solution,” and if they come saying that someone’s been mean, “Did you ask them to stop?”. My replies after are all dependent on that first answer because I want them to take control of their own situations.

They don’t like that. Not at all.

We’ve got a generation of kids who have a tough time problem solving. I’m not sure what it is, but they expect problems solved by someone else. If they are asked the above questions, it usually stops them in their tracks. Now, that’s not to say that if someone is swearing or being mean, that I won’t step in, far from it. But I want them to see they have power in these situations, and by standing up for themselves and those around them, that’s a good thing.

It also signals that yes, the honeymoon period is over and that things are about to “get real” as we travel through this school year!

I wouldn’t have it any other way!

If you’ve gotten this far, Happy Monday! 🙂