Once again I have spent way too much money. Why, oh why, do I do this? I love to spend money, yes, but for goodness sakes! I need to find someone who can afford to support me in the way I’d like to become accustomed.
Is that wrong? Heh.
The week was a long one, and I decided to cheer myself up by going shopping. Now normally I am not one to shop. Yes, I’m a girl, but I don’t normally like to shop. It depresses me. I see all the things that would look great in my house, or the things that would look great in my closet, and all the things that I really want. However, I can’t afford all those things, so I just get plain bummed. Pout. Pout. Pout. That’s what I do! Therefore, avoiding it altogether is usually the solution.
Not this weekend, though!
I bought a whole bunch of things for the classroom (again) and also for myself. Go figure! One of the positive reinforcement thingies that I have in my class is that when I catch some behaving – working diligently, on task, clean desks, helping others, etc. – I give them a ticket. It’s the kind of ticket that you might get at a fair, a little red one. I have a classroom store from which the kids can buy some little toys, games, and other fun stuff. Of course, in order to buy these things, they must earn tickets. One thing that the kids can buy is candy. I know, I know. I probably shouldn’t do that, but I do! And it works, too! Everyone wants a jolly rancher. Therefore, I buy a lot of candy. That’s one of the things that I bought. I purchased a large amount of candy for the huge jar that I have.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you might look at it), I found that someone was stealing candy from my jar when I was out of the room during recess and/or lunch. It’s something that I’ve been noticing, but this time the person(s) left behind evidence. One of the big bags that I bought of assorted candy had bubble gum in it. I took out all the bubble gum and put it back in the bag and behind my desk in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet. Did I mention it was behind my desk? I come back from lunch (or last recess) and there were two gum wrappers in the now-open bag that sat in the open bottom drawer. Needless to say, the candy jar had been put away. I’m not too upset about putting it up. It’ll save me some money this next month!
I also bought a bunch of things for the store – Spiderman cards, Scooby Doo card game, some little lizards and animals that grow when you put them in water, some bouncy balls, magic sets, and other various fun things. I showed them all to the kids so that they knew for what they would be saving their tickets. That usually works for them! If they know what’s in there and what they want, they are more willing to work harder to earn the tickets. At least that’s how it usually is! Heh.
Too much money spilled out of my purse this weekend, but I did have fun.
By the way, Friday was a much better day at school. I started right away at controlling the class’s behavior and work environment. I went to another teacher and borrowed her concentration stations. These are large, white, foldable, corrugated plastic walls that students can put up on their desks to give them privacy and their own space. It helped a lot while they took their tests. That was step one to a better classroom environment. I also stayed right on top of any blurting out and off-task discussions. That was step two. I encouraged the young man from Thursday all day, smiling at him and helping him do his work correctly (procedures like name, date, etc.) That was step three.
Oh yeah, the day went well! How exciting is that? That young man never smiles, and at the end of the day when I was telling him how proud of him I was for his good behavior and how well he worked, he smiled. He smiled! This boy only has angry looks. That really gave me hope.
I am not going to delude myself into thinking that I have solved all the problems of the world, but one step at a time we will have a successful year. I just know it. It’s all attitude, isn’t it? After talking a bit with Patsy Thursday night, I found some rejuvenation, and that made all the difference in the world. It’s always good to hear from a colleague that it’s going to be okay. Sometimes you just need to hear that from someone else. I have high hopes. High, up-in-the-sky hopes.
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