It is so pointless.
Especially the IOWA test. It is timed, and for my 3rd graders, it is the first bubble-sheet test they've ever taken. They don't know what to do with the darn thing. And kids who I *know* know how to work the problems asked are freaking out because THEY ONLY HAVE X-NUMBER OF MINUTES!
I have to read these stupid instructions - word for word - reminding the kids that they only have five minutes, that many of them probably won't finish, to work quickly yet carefully . . . and we expect them NOT to panic? Ugh.
It's been an all-week thing, and I hate it. Every year I hate it.
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So there's drama in the room, again. However, Maria, this year it's the boys. Yes, I have a wannabe alpha male. BP is a 4th grade boy - small yet stocky - who struts around the room asserting his dominance over all of the other boys in class. The little boys he picks up and swings around. The bigger boys - closer to his age and size - he is more aggressive with. He will grab things out of their hands - notebooks, journals, that sort of thing - he harasses verbally and physically . . . he is aggressive. I don't know how to describe it otherwise. He does it all, though, with a smile on his face. I'm reminded, though, that in primates the smile is a sign of aggression - the baring of the teeth and all that. He doesn't come across as malicious and mean, but he is behaving rather bully-like. I'm not sure how to deal with it. I'd like to help him turn his need to dominate outward into a need to nurture. Fact is that he *is* bigger/older/academically advanced. He could be using all of those things to the advantage of the other students instead of simply reinforcing the fact that he is all of those things.
I think I'm rambling.
I also had a hitting incident this week. Not with aggressive boy, but with not-normalized girl. RB is one of the more spirited girls in the school. When she started as a 1st grader two years ago she ran away from school on a regular basis. For the last two years she has pitched fits, screaming and hitting and disrespecting materials, but this year has been relatively calm. She still acts a lot like my three-year-old son in a lot of ways - grunting or scowling her displeasure whenever something does not go her way, snapping angrily at classmates for minor infractions and dissolving into tears over trivialities. Yesterday she hit a classmate (BP actually). I immediately escorted her from the room and took her upstairs. She came along without protesting, although she did try to point out that it wasn't HER fault the boys were squishing her on line . . . We sat down and talked with Miss Amy about the hitting. Amy was ready to call her mom and send her home then and there. I suggested that since it was her first incident of the year we ought to call it a warning and leave the suspending for the next time. We asked RB if she felt like she could apologize for hitting, and she thought she could. With me moderating, she apologized, and I suggested to BP that maybe he ought to consider whether or not he had something to apologize for as well. He then apologized saying, "I'm sorry we wouldn't let you in [the circle]."
I really feel like this little girl is growing up. She has had many an incident where her emotions were high, yet this was the first time they got away from her. She is getting much better and reigning in her reactions and keeping herself on track. I don't think it's me, I think I just got her at a good age. Just like so many of my other 3rd graders, she changed over the summer. I just got lucky.
The weather changed today. Cold and wet - lots of rain in the valleys, and snow on the mountain peaks. The thunder last night was impressive. It seems fall has arrived (winter, some would say). I wonder how the students will react to the changing seasons? It is sure to be a roller coaster!
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