What really is going on?

I know I am supposed to be the adult, the responsible one, the role model, but sometimes I seriously cannot help but laugh at the ridiculous things that happen EVERYDAY at school.

A snapshot of today or I should say a snapshot of the things that happened in about 15 minutes during today.

Student one: Copying down his spelling words writing bitch instead of batch.

Student Two: Hiding under my umbrella that is opened in the back of the classroom.

Student Three: Jumps up on the desk and does a round-off off the side.

Student Four: Pulls out a large ceramic cross out of his book sack (that’s backpack for all you NW folks)

Student Five: Is crying like a baby because she got detention for hitting someone.

Student Six: Is actually doing her work.

Student Seven: Is following me around like a lost puppy.

Student Eight: Writing on the white board in the back of the classroom because I told her not to write on the front board. (really what I meant was you should not be writing on the board at all)

Student Nine’s Grandma: Says I remind her of Mariah Carey.

Student Ten: Laying on the floor.

Student Eleven: Saying “no” to every phrase that comes out of my mouth.

Student Twelve: My encouragement - "Come on buddy, get your work done" and the response, "I want a big Mac"

And I had a few absent students today. Luckily, even when everyone is present, I do have a small class of only 15. I am so thankful that. I cannot imagine adding more to this Sullivan Circus.

Even though we obviously have a long way to go, I see glimpses of greatness from my students. For a few moments today the classroom was so quiet, it was incredible. Every student was busy doing what I asked them to do. Working hard, moving forward, being successful. What a crazy job this is, what crazy kids these are! I have found that the day runs a lot smoother if I allow time for my kids to simply be kids. They unfortunately do not have recess and somehow my class got jipped out of PE and Art, so each day I give them a little free time. Today they started to teach me the Soulja Boy dance. If you have not heard of it – check it out on www.YouTube.com then imagine Miss Sullivan doing this dance surrounded by all her little babies, who are by the way much more coordinated then I will ever be.

Yesterday we had some more crazy weather around here. Another tornado watch and flooding all around the area. Our school site was okay, but the parking lot flooded. I had to move my car mid-day because they thought our cars might get stuck. I was nervous driving through such deep water with my little car. I actually didn’t know how deep it really was until I was walking back through the parking lot and the water was almost up to my knees.

Well I need to go prepare plans for my sub tomorrow. I am going to an inservice DynaVox training. One of my students does not speak and he uses a computer to communicate. The problem is I am his teacher and I do not know how to use it. Hopefully after tomorrow I will be able to teach him more effectively. I hope my kids do not tear up the sub – who knows maybe they will respect him more than they respect me. It may sound bad, but I am a little bit excited about being away from school for a day and I will get to sleep a little too! These 5 o’clock mornings are pulling me down.

Goodnight friends.