I was overwhelmed today. It got so bad that some teachers saw me at the end of the day and had to ask me what was wrong. We had a departmental meeting for special education, and I basically looked confused the whole time. There is a lot of stuff to do, and I have not been able to really organize my life around all of the tasks at hand.
I put those thoughts aside and went into my last period (social skills) class. We had a great period two days ago, so I was really looking forward to today—I was excited about my lesson. Twenty-five minutes after the period began, I found myself putting two students out. I was not happy about it, and I know that it is partially my fault. Yes, the students were disrespectful. Yes, they moved through the consequences. However, if I had a better investment plan, I probably would not have to move through negative consequences so much. I know I have said that I need a better investment plan before, so I am going make sure I put my actions where my mouth is. This weekend, I will DEFINITELY put together this new investment plan so that I can have more positive incentives to balance my negative consequences. I tried to do a lot of stuff with building positive class culture with students, but I need some more tangible, concrete things for them.
The day was not completely lost. The latter part of my social skills class was a lot of fun. At one point, I actually started “preaching” about how great it is to understand the main idea of something. I was not really preaching (I’m not trying to get sued…), but it went something like this:
Me: (Walking back and forward with my hands raised) You know, I asked myself a questions the other day. I said, ‘Self?” and my self said, “hmm?” and I said, ‘Mr. Seegars, do you know how important the main idea is?”
Student: Well
Me: Hey Hey Hey!
Student: Well!
Me: And my self told me that the main idea is a beautiful thing. It said, “Mr. Seegars, it is an important thing.” The main idea helps us understand the point of what somebody is telling us.
Student: Mhmmmmm (singing)
Other students: Mr. Seegars, can you stop—you are not a preacher!
Me: Hey Hey Hey! I’m feeling the main idea all over me! Now, y’all better pay attention to this part of the lesson!
Students: We are! Can you stop preaching, please! You and preaching don’t go together!
Me: Hey Hey Hey! Alright, as long as y’all know how important this is
Student: I’m going to pray for you Mr. Seegars
Me: Alright, alright. Let’s continue with our main idea graphic organizer…
That was basically my way of trying to get them excited about the lesson. I don’t know if it worked or not, but I think they were grateful to do anything (including learn about main idea) as long as I stopped “preaching.” By any means necessary?
Oh yeah, they also tried to debate how old I am. The possibilities they stated: 26, 32, and 54. I guess the blazers that I started wearing to school in order to look older have worked. ☺
Anyway, after school, I was exhausted and still overwhelmed from my meeting earlier. I had a meeting with my TFA Program Director after I left work. It was very productive, and she told me that we are going to work on prioritizing things so that I could become more efficient. It was a very good meeting, and she is always very supportive and helpful. I have a crazy amount of work to do, but I still got into my car smiling.
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