Summer has (almost) sprung!

So apparently Arizona forgot spring and went straight from winter to summer! It's HOT out now! (It's over 100 now in Phoenix, and in the mid-90s in my little area; this is quite warm for a Clevelander in May!)

We took our kids today to Tuzigoot National Monument. It was beautiful, rich in history, and actually of vague interest to the students. (This is a good thing; at least they said the trip was cool.) Though it was hot out (yay for 32 whiny, dehydrated children!), it was still a nice visit to some ancient Indian ruins. Perhaps I shall put pictures of it on here sometime soon!



The trip (and the day) went very quickly. My class had 2 chaperones plus me for 14 kids, which was nice. We had a total of 32 children and 7 adults; not a bad ratio! A nice, older ranger guided us around for 45 minutes, and the kids seemed to enjoy a male leading the gang for once. (I'm not surprised; they pay special attention to male speakers, probably because they aren't that exposed to them.) After our tour, we went on a beautiful hike (though my kids were getting a bit feisty), then checked out the museum/gift shop. The kids actually took a great deal of interest in the museum; I was excited! It's always so neat seeing them geeked out about historical things. :) After our visit to Tuzigoot, we found a nearby park and enjoyed a long, leisurely picnic lunch. Fortunately, there was a playground at the park, so we let the kids play for about an hour (!) before we headed back.

As an interesting aside, I think I'm starting to understand how gangs are formed. Four of my 5th grade girls (all blondies; go figure) have had this constant drama amongst themselves for over a year. They break off into twos, and the mix changes from month to month. This month, our girls teamed up with girls from the other class (oh, joy). Two sides, equally large and annoying, were formed. One group even claimed "territory" at the park, and made hissing noises and spat at those who walked on "their turf." Wow. Eventually, one group was on one side of the park (where the water fountain and bathroom were) and the other group was on the other side. The group away from the bathrooms had to have "escorts" take them into "enemy territory." Unbelievable!! I even had to walk a few girls to the bathroom and drinking fountain so they didn't get harrassed. SO annoying, but the societal implications are pretty frightening. These girls exhibited genuine anger towards each other, all screaming at each other about who did what. I was actually a bit taken aback by the entire ordeal. When we got on the bus, the two distinct groups started out separated, but miraculously, when we arrived back at school, the majority of the girls were getting along.

When we arrived back at the school (with 30 minutes left in the day), I called the front office to see if we could just let the kids stay out on the playground and burn off their excess energy. The secretary had no problem with it, but referred us to our "acting" principal (as the regular principal was out of town on business today). The ensuing conversation went roughly as follows:

Me: "Hello, it's Beth! We've just arrived back from our field trip, and were wondering if we could just stay out on the playground, since the kids are so riled up."

Acting Principal: "No, that's against school policy." (As of last week, our principal decided that there is to be NO recess after 2:30pm, for reasons still unbeknownst to me.)

Me: "Well, it'll just be a waste of time if we take them back to the classrooms."

AP: "You are to take them back and we'll dismiss them as normal."

Me: "But it would make a lot more sense to take them outside. Can't we just do that?"

AP: "No. Those are the rules."

Me: "Well, I don't understand the reasoning why. Why not?"

AP: [Hesitates, then, annoyed:] "Because I said so."

Me: "Can we at least take them to the gym?"

AP: "No, we will put them back in the classrooms and do a normal dismissal."

Me: "I don't understand why. That'd be a total nightmare."

AP: "Then don't let it be a nightmare."

Me: "Fine." [Hangs up.]

I was not a happy camper. "Because I said so"?! What am I, five? I NEVER, EVER give that as an excuse to anyone, not even children. I despise the phrase, "Because I said so." People (including children) have a right to question what is asked of them if it doesn't seem to make sense. I've made it a point to explain to my students why they do the things I have them do. If they ask me why, I am fully prepared to offer them a rational, logical reason for whatever it is. Grrr.

Anyway, I had my class come back to the room, where we played quite whole-class games until the buses were called. Not a huge deal, but I was very disappointed in the way the acting principal handled the situation. It just felt inherently wrong, especially since there was no justification for the denial. :P

On a quasi-related note, yesterday sucked. Completely and totally. Awfully. Horribly. I wanted to just walk out of the room and let the kids have at each other. The last hour and a half of the day was mayhem. We were trying to do some reading for science, but the kids just would NOT be quiet!! Moreover, they were rude and disrespectful to me and each other. I'd had enough, so I wrote a LOOONG 10-question writing assignment on the board and informed them that they had to do it before they could leave for the day. School gets out at about 3:30 (because of our #**#@@#$#@$ing new bus system), so the kids had over an hour and a half to complete the assignment. The ones who worked diligently and quietly finished in about 45 minutes. I felt 1.5 hours was more than enough time to do what I'd asked.

Not so! I had four kids in tears, two who initially refused to do the assignment, everyone complaining, etc. I was just fed up with everything. They then asked (one by one) to get drinks or go to the bathroom. My response to each and every request was a firm, "No." I finally informed the class, "I will deny every request for bathroom or drinks until your assignment is in my hand." People flipped out. Everyone panicked, and then swore they were going to pee their pants and then have their parents sue me. Such little complainers!! One kid (two, actually) shut down entirely for 30 minutes. I told them both that they were just wasting their *own* time at that point.

Some children became defiant. "I'm not going to do this, and you can't keep me after school." My response? A not-so-professional, "Oh, yes I can, and I will. Ever hear of 'after-schoool detention?' Well, you'll be there until your work is done." Yuck. I had one of my shutter-downers draw a picture of himself hanging (like in "hangman") with an arrow pointing to the stick figure that said, "Me." Underneath, he had written "Suaecide." He's already seeing the counselor; I suppose I need to talk to his parents at this point as well. Sigh.

In the end, I actually kept two students after school until their work was done. They both cried at first, especially when I talked to their parents, but they eventually finished up the assignment.

I am just shocked at how mal-adjusted these kids are. It was a writing assignment, not capital punishment! They acted as if their lives were over (the whole class, not just the ones who had to stay), and that I was totally out of line. They complained, they whined, they cried. Finally, I stood up and lectured.

"Listen," I'd said, calmly, "what I'm asking here is not a big deal. I'm asking you to read the science book that we couldn't read together and answer the questions we couldn't discuss together. In the real world, you will be asked to do a LOT more. If you think a writing assignment is bad, just wait. This is nothing! If you can't just suck it up and deal with it, you're in for a long and hard life. You need to show me and each other that you can step up to challenges and deal with them maturely. Otherwise, this world is going to eat you alive."

I know, I can be pretty inspirational sometimes. I also, in my frustration, let it slip that I'm not coming back next year. A few students smiled; the rest sat with their mouths agape: pretty much the reaction I'd expected.

For now, I prepare for the coming week, then enjoy a mini weekend vacation!! :) I have recess duty from 7:45-8:15am next week, so I'll have no morning prep time. It all must get done now!!

Take care.