Tinkerings

I’m a teacher.  I’m used to kids being kids.  Some days I play along.  Some days I try to get them to act more like adults.  Its the dance we do every day.  Sometimes when I’ve had enough, my calming….er….planning period helps me focus back to some of the reasons why some children act like…well…children.

Some of these kids get absolutely no attention at home.  They act out in school because it feeds a deep seated longing for connection.  I have to remind myself that loving these children is far better than scolding them, even when scolding is easier.

Some kids are simply immature.  We get a lot of 6th and 7th grade students that have trouble in middle school simply because they started really early in kindergarten.  It wasn’t much of a problem in elementary school, but in middle school we are expecting a slightly higher maturity level.  Some kids struggle with this.  In fact, a new study out says we may have misdiagnosed over 1 million kids as ADHD who are really just immature for their age group.

Some kids act like their parents.  Their behavior just doesn’t fall far from the tree.  Like yesterday.  Another teacher and I were dealing with a student after school who refused to follow our instructions. She had a smirk on her face and just kept walking in the direction she wanted.  When I saw her mom pull up to get her, I decided to talk to her and see if she would help us get her daughter to be less antagonistic and sarcastic toward her teachers.  Yep.  You guessed it.  The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Teachers can usually help the first two types if students.  The third is much more difficult.  More difficult.  Not impossible.

But it sure feels that way sometimes.