alicejb

If I had a world of my own,
everything would be nonsense.
Nothing would be what it is because
everything would be what it isn't.
And contrary wise; what it is it wouldn't be
and what it wouldn't be,
it would.( You see? )

|Spam|

I had my first temper tantrum today. Well, one of my kids did. And lucky for me, she's a biter and spitter.
She bit a playmate while they were playing with Barbie Dolls. Since I'm the teacher-in-training, Ms. Massey graciously let me handle it. We'll call the girl Lynn.
Now I went up to Lynn with my best frown and growly voice and told her to sit in 'Time Out'. She screamed No. I counted to three loudly. She simply screamed and kicked on the floor. I got to three and picked her up and set her in a saucer. Since my leg was in close vicinity she decided to bite it. It really hurt. I think my leg is still red now.
She then kept trying to climb out the saucer to which I sat next to her and held her legs. Then she screamed and spit at me. Ms. Massey just watched all this quietly, even when I looked over helplessly. The lesson was that I had to win. This girl, Lynn, obviously got away with this at home, and always ended up getting what she wanted, so the tantrums had gotten worse. I felt bad because she was normally a sweet girl and I really, really wanted to stop and let her out. But that wasn't going to help either of us.
Finally after a few high pitched screams, Ms. Massey walked over and Lynn quieted down. She told Lynn she was setting a timer and if Lynn was quiet for five minutes, she could get up. It was like magic. Basically, I have no authority with these kids-I probably still look like a kid to them. But I won that time(with Ms. Massey's help). Lynn calmed down and said she was sorry.

I felt a little guilty the rest of the day though. I still do. I understand why some teachers have a hard time with discipline. You have to be firm and you have to be consistent and that can take a lot of work. I've seen teachers tell a child not to do something, and then the next time they do it, it's at an inconvenient time or location so they pretend not to see it. All those little nuances add up, and all of them I've taken for granted before signing up to be a student-teacher. Reading and studying is one thing-this last year is going to make or break me. Am I really cut out for this? I've devoted three years of my life to it, I can't start having doubts now.
I guess it's one little thing. I learned from it and I can put that towards the next one. And there will definitely be a next one. Woo, senior year.
At least having Prof. Miller for Developmental Psych is making it worthwhile.