S-T-R-E-S-S

Here's your warning...This is a long post, but probably worth the read.

I thought I knew the meaning of this word. This last week I discovered the true meaning of it. I have been student teaching for 6 weeks now. Last week, I was stressed about student teaching, being observed and getting work for school done. This week was a whole new thing. While student teaching, you are allowed to substitute for your master teacher. This is highly recommended if you know your master teacher will be gone because if you don't they have to hire a substitute. Since you know the students' schedule better than the sub, you will end up doing all of the work while the sub reads a book and gets paid. Needless to say, I went to the district office and paid for my emergency credential so that I can sub for my class. This last Tuesday was my first day as a sub. I was only to sub in the morning because I had classes in the afternoon. There is a particular child in this class who is TROUBLE. We'll call him "C." About a week earlier C was hiding out in his brother's Kindergarten class and we thought he was absent. When the school called his house his mother said that he did indeed go to school that day. There was a little freak out and then he was found. C was in major trouble and lost all the recesses until he made up the time that he missed by going to his brother's room.

The day that I was substituting, C had to stay in at recess. He asked me if he could take his little brother his lunch. Since I didn't want to have his brother go hungry, I let him go. I told him to come right back. The recess bell rang and C had not returned. After a lot of calling around the school and paging him to go to the office, the secretary called me and asked me to describe what he was wearing that day. WHAT!?! I have 33 students, and I'm supposed to remember what he was wearing down to the color of his shoes??? I did the best I could.

Later the police found him walking down this very steep hill WITH HIS BROTHER (kidnapping much??) walking back towards his house. I was pretty calm and collected throughout the whole ordeal and didn't lose it until I was driving to school. I drove down the same hill where they found C walking and I noticed that there are some places without a sidewalk. I was freaking out about how the two kids could have been hit by a car or kidnapped. After school, I talked with my master teacher and she said that I couldn't have handled the situation any better and the principal said that I did everything exactly right.

C came to school on Wednesday for Halloween. He was absent on Thursday with an excuse. On Friday he was absent again, but no excuse from the parents. C takes the bus to school with his brother. A parent saw two kids walking down the hill and immediately called the principal. Apparently the bus dropped the kids off at the school and C promptly took his brother and walked back towards home. The principal had to go and pick them up and bring them back to school. During some meetings C was asked why he ran away from school. First he said that another girl in class was mean to him (so not the case. The girl doesn't even sit near him in class). Then he said that his teacher has been mean to him since he got in trouble for going to his brother's class last week (such a lie). Then he said it's because I never call on him during class (lie again). This kid is a little B.S.er.

So yesterday the secretary called the classroom while I was alone teaching the kids. C was in the office. She let me know that a man would be coming in to observe the class. I had no idea who he was, but just went on my way teaching my lesson. It turns out that the observer was a retired parole officer that was observing me to see if I was only calling on the same students in class. It just so happened that when he came to observe me we were doing something that involved the students giving responses to my questions. The same students kept raising their hands so I said (as I always do) "I need to see new hands or I'll start calling on people." The report he gave back was that I couldn't be doing it any better. I even asked other kids to answer and called on the ones who raised their hands evenly. I wasn't aware of the fact that he was coming to observe that exact thing.

In the last week I had my first substituting job, had a student run away and was observed by a retired parole officer. Much too much excitement for one week! What does this possibly have to do with knitting?? (Since I always try to bring it back to that). Not even knitting is relieving the stress from all of this. I am definitely trying though. Been doing a lot of knitting instead of the things I "should" be doing. Hopefully that will relieve some of the tension. At least as much as possible when what I really need is to spend a week/month in Hawaii :)