Loving Them All

I wanted to share an anecdote with you guys. I have a difficult class this year. Our enrollment in Kinder is actually down-we don't really know why. I only have 16 students so it should be an easy year for me. 11 of those students are boys and just little balls of energy. One of  our admins calls them fire ants-just always moving around. Even at lunch they are just always moving, spinning, running around, flossing. Just teaching them to sit quietly for a read-aloud took weeks and we still struggle with it sometimes.

I have several boogerbears who have definitely given me gray hair this year. We use Conscious Discipline which is a system of teaching students about dealing with their emotions in an appropriate way. We are not supposed to use rewards and consequences. It's a difficult adjustment for some students who come from homes where the correct behaviors are rewarded. I have tried since Day One to develop a classroom community but it's been difficult. They argue about everything! I dread cleaning up after an activity because they just fight with each constantly. No one can help anyone else clean up-they have to do it themselves. In line they just argue with each other-she said something mean to me, he touched me. I feel like I waste so much time redirecting and asking them to be ready to learn.

We have tried using Morning Meetings, having them greet each other and share their feelings. We watch videos about kindness which they laugh at. I even did the activity with them where you pass the heart around and show how your heart hurts when people say mean things-they would yell at each other to "pass it"  and argued with each other throughout the whole activity. 

I've tried to model for them how to cooperate. Compliment cooperation when I see it. Today I said "thank you sweetie".  Another student said how can she be your sweetie-she never listens. We had a whole conversation about how I loved all of them and how I always would. That we all have good days and bad days but that they would always have a place in my heart. My student was really surprised by this. I wrote letters to all their parents to say why I was thankful they were in my class.

I think maybe this is karma because my sister and I used to argue incessantly the way these students do. We can only do what we can while we have them but I hope they will learn how to cooperate and solve problems that arise. We will keep working on it!