I heaved a big sigh of relief today; I finished a quarter with a very difficult group of students. All grades and classes come with their own personalities and challenges, but this group was the most difficult one I've ever had to deal with. I was so overwhelmed with trying to manage the constant behavior issues that I didn't even feel like I was teaching.
I tried to find comfort in the knowledge that a few of the students seemed to respond to me, but I wish I could have connected with more of them.
The quarter did produce one good thing, which happened today. One of the students from that class asked recently if he'd be able to help out in the library. Since I was able to develop a good rapport with him, and I trust him, I said it was okay with me, but his teachers have to agree to it first. He did clear it with his teachers, and helped out in the library today during a class. The kids enjoyed it, and he was very helpful in the activity we did, as my aide and I dashed around.
I made sure to tell him how well he did, and how much we appreciated his help, and I also made sure to tell his teacher how well it went.
Other than that, I am heading into my second half of the year- I've survived this far.
I was in public libraries much longer than school ones (a little less than two years for the latter), but I think they are similar in how a person perceives the librarian of his or her childhood. A few of the kids, I'm afraid, will remember me as the one who kept telling them to be quiet or charged them fines for damaging books, but I hope that more will, even if they don't remember me personally, at least come away with a pleasant feeling for librarians in general as being helpful and resourceful and easy to talk to. You sound, even from this one post, like the kind who gives librarians a *good* name!
ReplyDeleteI came over here via the thread on the Greenleaf forum about dollhouses as fanfiction --