Yesterday was David’s last day with us.  He was hardly in the room at all; Nan kept taking him out to “take a break,” and she told me she wasn’t going to push it, as she could tell he wouldn’t be able to handle being in the room much.  After he’d gone, I said, “and I didn’t get to say ...

Lola went to art today, on Black Day, to draw pictures with white crayon on black paper.  I had stencils for city buildings with window cutouts, so she made a lovely picture with lots of buildings.  Then she cut it into lots of small pieces. Was this frustration?  Boredom?  The joy of cutting paper?  I have no idea.  I can’t speak ...

Our school psychologist, one of the many people who helped make the decision on David’s placement, stopped by today after the children left to see how things were going.  It was a rough morning, of course, with Nan having to give David and Max all of her attention and skills.  She was amazing, and they made it through, but David threw ...

Alas, it was another difficult morning. Most of the hour I had before school started I was at a tech meeting in the computer lab, where we learned how to do a behavior screener on each child.  I got all mine done — which was good — but only with lots of technical glitches, which was not so good.  Everyone on the staff is ...

Actually, things went okay today, on this, our eighth day of school. On Friday I passed out the Friday folders to the children as I was lining them up to go out in the hall to get their jackets for recess.  They started opening their folders, dropping their papers on the floor, and chatting with each other, and I had a really hard time getting ...

Here’s the text of the email I sent my husband today, after I sent my kiddos home: When is this going to get easier?  I feel like I’m just barely treading water.  I thought I was supposed to be a good teacher, and I don’t feel like it! David threw things across the room today, threw a block at me, kicked me, kicked our ...

There are two boys in my class who know each other from last year and are giving me a run for my money.  Let’s call them Max (as in Where the Wild Things Are) and David (as in No, David!).  Max has a face like an angel and also likes to screech.  David is really smart and sweet, and cannot stop hitting other children.  Max loves school, ...

Perhaps because I started out teaching in a high-poverty school, and such schools tend to be law-and-order places, I am fairly strict about my students’ hallway behavior.  Now I work at a school where people are pretty lax about the halls, and my kids are among the few who are quiet and orderly.  My routines haven’t changed, though, ...

We had the best time today. The entire school and almost the entire staff went to a big celebration in a park, and we had the school to ourselves. Three kids were absent today, as was Ali, so it was me, Jan (my para), and 12 preschoolers. We went on an exploration adventure, starting with the [...]

When I taught preschool at a daycare center, during my first official year of teaching, I had a big classroom with a large area where we could sit on the floor for circle time, in an actual circle. Now, many years later, I am teaching preschool in a public school, in a very small classroom.  Our [...]