I usually blog when I am so excited about how well my lessons have gone. Today that is not the case. Today I felt like I was pushing a giant concrete block up a hill! I felt flat, and I was pushing myself to be engaging and fun. Why is it that when the teacher is not 100% for whatever reason, the little tackers pick up on that and run with it?!!

It seemed like classroom management was more difficult. It seemed like they were not doing their bit. It seemed like they were not getting it. My first class was with Year Three. They had seven minutes of reading time. So far, so good. All seemed very engaged and read for the whole time. Perhaps three or four of them were looking around and not really engaged in their text (stories written by other students).

Then came writing time. Usually I have one that does not write. Today there were three or four! Including one boy who wrote a great story last time! Just refused to write! Another started in Indonesian then trailed off into English (despite this being a no-no). I read their stories this afternoon and was so disappointed. What went wrong? I thought the writing would be so much better by this time of year! I thought they would be dying to write after being inspired by their classmates.

Then came my two prep classes. J decided to really play up. When I mentioned that his behaviour was not up to scratch, and that I would have to let his parents know when report time comes around, he said ‘Don’t even think about it’. I said if he was rude I would have to tell his teacher. He told me to shut up. He then proceeded to tell the students around him (who were telling him to behave) to shut up. He punched one and kicked one in the knee. I had to ring his teacher to remove him. We were all a bit shaken up after that. I thought after he had left, and because we had the wonderful snake eating up students, it would be a great, engaging lesson. Instead, I struggled to keep them quiet and listening. Then the headache from hell kicked in!

The next Prep class would be good, I thought, we haven’t been upset by J’s behaviour. But although it was better than the last class, it still felt like hard work instead of fun.

Last lesson was Year One. We began the snake story. The snake ate some kids. Then we did it again with different kids. Aha! This is more like it! By now the headache from hell had really kicked in and I was praying for the day to end.

What happened? Did we not have enough action? Should I have used more brain breaks? Were they picking up on my ‘flat’ mood? Why was the writing not as good as expected? Should I just resign and be done with it?!!

I guess the lesson is that we all have bad days. I hope you can relate to this post. As Scarlett O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day”.  Let me know if you have had a similar day! I will be going to bed early with my new book ‘While we’re on the Topic’ by Bill Van Patten.

Any advice welcome!