Reality Bites

Last year I couldn't stand my class. I was so excited when the year was over, and so excited for a new year to start. I wasn't going to be teaching a split this year, which was huge. Plus, I was teaching 5th grade this year, not sixth, so no snotty girls. Well, the reality of my class hit quick.

My class is overloaded with boys, and many with real behavior problems. I'm just so worn out from dealing with them. Today an argument broke out between two of my boys in class...I was speechless, and I didn't know what to do. I just am struggling with the behavior. On the plus side, our principal is finally disbanding the two split classes, and combining the two fifth grade groups to make up our third straight 5th. How this benefits me is that she'll reconfigure some of the kids, and make sure that the three classes are have the same distribution of girls and boys, even though this class as a whole is heavily boys. But, this will give me two more girls, and I get to get rid of three boys.

One will be one of the students who disrupted class with his petty argument today. He's a smart boy, but acts like a prince. He has blatently argued with me in front of the class before.

Another boy I'm getting rid of is one who was kicked out of our school in SECOND GRADE! He then went to a neighboring district, where he was kicked out last year, apparently. Now he's back, but I already have a real behavior problem boy (who is nicer, however...). One's enough. I asked my principal yesterday, "Am I the only 5th grade teacher who has boys with such bad behavior problems that I have to keep anecdotal notes on?" Apparently I am.

The third boy I'm getting rid of is of average smarts, but is noisy and blurts out constantly, so he's gone. If all goes in my favor, that is.

I hope this will be enough of a change that it will positively affect the climate of my class. I hope the girls I get are not snots.

I'm not happy with my chosen profession right now. Ironically, my husband says, "Then do something else. Why be miserable?" Sure, that's what he did when he decided to become a teacher, which in my view is the root of why I ended up leaving my good district for this poor one. I blame him. And now he makes pennies. I'm the main wage-earner, and he talks about me just throwing in the towel and doing something else? I never realized how irresponsible he was.