Army of Mom

So this is how liberty dies ... with thunderous applause.

11.16.2008

Darwin was right

I thought my day subbing the first-graders from hell on Friday was about as bad as it can get for a day at work. But, this obscures my God-awful day when I was reminded consistently throughout the day by the little angel on my shoulder that you can't beat other people's children. (If only ...)

Seriously. I laughed out loud at that link. Ahhh, Dallas' finest. *snickering* And, they wonder why people have no respect for police officers.
But, someday, I will have recovered from the trauma that 15 5- and 6-year-olds inflicted on me Friday. Seriously, Lord of the Flies kept coming to mind. Never have I subbed and spent more of my time counting down each hour. It was awful. I had to make myself pity these children (some, honestly, were very pitiable despite their evil behavior and defiance). Of course, the pity came between bouts of thinking about where I could bury the bodies. They're doing construction on campus, so, it is out as a location. *sigh* Thank God, Friday is over.
"You will respect my authority!" hmm, takes on multiple meanings now.

posted by Army of Mom @ 9:27 PM  

4 Comments:

  • At 10:44 AM, November 18, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This is a really sad post.

    Do you have any positive thoughts about educating other peoples children?

    If this day was bad for you and you had these ill words in your mind about these children then it is heart breaking that they had to deal with you.

     

  • At 2:52 PM, November 18, 2008, Blogger Army of Mom said…

    I can assure you it was a SAD day to be teaching these youngsters. What I feel really badly about is that these children are getting shortchanged by the teacher they have every day. She, clearly, does not have her act together or these children would NOT behave like this. I have NEVER encountered a group of children so poorly behaved and it is a wonder that I could be as compassionate as I was. I actually enjoy teaching and 99 percent of the time find subbing a pleasure. That day, however, was not one of them.

    And, I'm just guessing that you've never heard the saying of those without sin casting the first stone ... because I'd love to sit back and observe you in this same situation. These children were awful. Now, their backgrounds were sad and there were reasons why they behaved as they did. But, that doesn't excuse the behavior.

    I hate trolls. Go back to wherever you came from.

     

  • At 5:02 PM, November 18, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Dear Aom,

    I'm not a troll and I do read your blog alot.

    It's just alarming to read your comments about the children that need help and patience.

    I was a job coach for people with mental challenges. Often I was told that I was going to get a "pounding" but I stayed on track to teach them their jobs. Underneath, all they really wanted was someone to care and believe in them. Please don't blame their teacher as you were the one that was supposed to reach them that day. I was rooting for you to do well but it saddened me to read this post. Maybe, a sub mentor would help?

     

  • At 10:08 PM, November 18, 2008, Blogger Army of Mom said…

    Anon - you are clearly a better person than me. I do care and that is the ONLY reason I didn't walk out of that class about two hours into it. I'm honestly surprised that you would think I could walk into a classroom and be expected to make a life-lasting impact in eight hours of time.

    I love how you're judging my ability as a sub based on one day. Just as I don't base all children, all assignments and all classes on this one incident, I would not expect someone to judge me by one bad day.

    I DO blame this teacher for not keeping these children in rein better. A teacher across the hall assured me after the day was over that this class is known to be a challenging (to put it nicely) class.

    And, just to respond to your comment that perhaps I need a sub mentor, I got giant kudos for my assignment Monday from the teachers around me. Two different teachers came to congratulate me for doing a great job with these kids. So, it isn't that I'm incompetent, unkind or impatient on a regular basis. I don't wave descriptions around loosely. Those children Friday truly need some help. Several should have been in classes designed for children with behavior problems (and as a mother of a child who is STILL in a program for children with adjustment issues, I believe I am fairly in tune with these programs and children with special needs).

    I just get tired of people assuming because I blog about personal things that I am inviting everyone's criticism and advice. I congratulate you for your wonderful nurturing demeanor. Please don't judge me because I think this teacher did a poor job preparing these children in their education. I feel like she is letting them down by NOT helping them know their limits.

     

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