A Day in the Life

I’d like to give you a glimpse into a day in my life. Not to complain or get pity but more for you to be able to chuckle on the sidelines at the things teachers go through. This is what my day looked like:

My student who needs medication to be able to control her outbursts came to school with the pill in her hand. The mother refuses to allow the school to give it to her yet cannot seem to get the child to school and the medication taken. So I started my morning trying to find the social worker to take the child back to her house so the mother can give her the medicine and then bring her back to school. But on a day like today when the social worker is out, I just have to keep this child in my room until she gets so bad I write her up and send her to the office. That’s fun!

This is going on while two boys are refusing to do their work, one is sitting upside down in his chair (head on the floor and feet in the air) talking to himself while the other likes to whistle and make noises just so no one forgets he’s around. They are not only being defiant and rude but they are keeping the other kids from learning because of course the other children are finding all of this drama quite funny.

Just in case that’s not enough, the boy who just has to have attention decides that he needs to start banging on his desk with his fists and whining. So on the way to time out he crawls on his knees until told to get up. Then he runs to time out and slides on the floor like sliding into home plate. This is what my morning looked like in just 15 minutes today. (Note: this behavior is after a warning and a call to their parents.)

To add to my exciting day, I had a student who wasn’t feeling well. She told me her heart was beating too fast but that just didn’t make sense. I had her talk with an assistant who came in my room and the child explained that she was having trouble breathing. Well, long story short the child has asthma but there is no record of it at school or on her profile sheet and no inhaler. To add fuel to the fire there is no medical release to take her to the hospital. So at 1:15 the office called her parents to come get her (that’s when we found out about the asthma). Finally at 2:00 someone came to get me from my meeting because there were no parents yet and they were going to have to call 911. Then an aunt showed up to get her and asked, “Has she had a chance to get her picture retakes done yet?” Really?!?! That’s the first thing to say.

This is part of my day. It doesn’t include the teaching, bathroom and hall monitoring, tattle telling, refereeing, or multiple visits from the assistant principal. I hope you’ve been able to a enjoy a chuckle from my day. I know I sure did (I have to if I’m going to keep my sanity!)