Friday, October 17, 2008

When Life Gives You Lemons...



As I have said in a previous blog I have a class that I struggle with. They aren’t bad people, there is just too many students in one class that make bad decisions and end up feeding off of each other. I have been implementing some strategies to help the students behave better as well as keep my sanity. Some are working but for the most part I haven’t seen a change. Yesterday I sent two students out of the classroom to another teacher’s class. Later on in the day a student informed me that another student wrote “F*** you Ms. Belingheri” in one of our magazines that we are reading right now. My first thought was it was probably one of the students I sent out of the classroom. As a teacher it is very disheartening to find out students disrespect me. I don’t care if they like me but I do expect them to respect me. Rather than wallow in misery and let this one student affect me I have decided to turn my lemons into lemonade and compile a list of the top 10 reasons why I love 6th graders”

The Top 10 Reasons Why Ms. Belingheri Loves 6th Graders

10. They still give their teachers notes that say things like, “You rock”

9. When I ask for a volunteer to help me 36 hands go up every time.

8. When reading a story and they come upon a semi-“bad” word, like damn, they ask permission to say it. The whole class ends up laughing because they got to say a swear word at school.

7. I can spend 10 minutes explaining and modeling, in detail, an assignment and still count on at least two kids raising their hand and saying, “What are we supposed to be doing right now?” (Can you hear?)

6. They want to share every detail of their health history with me AND keep me updated on the progress. (TMI...)

5. They can’t find mistakes in their own writing but will find every mistake I make in my writing.

4. They forgive me every time I forget their name, even if it is the 8th week of school.

3. They get excited when they run into me at the store.

2. When passing me in the hall they stop to give me a hug (Unfortunately, the kid that does this the most is the one that smells like cat pee.)

And the number one reason why I love 6th graders…

1. They send me notes telling me the top 10 reasons why I they love me.

**I realize my last few blog entries have been entirely related to school. I promise next time I blog I won’t mention my job :)**

4 comments:

Jen said...

Way to find a silver lining! That's so important in our jobs. Maybe I should make a top 10 list for my job . . ..

You're a saint for teaching junior high kids. That's all I know. :)

The Utley's said...

Y-U-C-K!! Cat Pee?! maybe you should have Dad come and help...

Chris and Shelly said...

Way to be optimistic! I'll see you tomorrow!

Hibbard Family said...

I love your happy attitude. I wonder if I'd get mad and write "f-you" on the next peice of homework i give back to him!!! Yeah cat pee is crossing the line....