. Regurgitated Alpha Bits: "G" means "Go"

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

"G" means "Go"

Howdy! Sorry I haven't been blogging. I'm just not feelin' it lately at work.

I love my kids and I love my coworkers, but I'm just not loving "it" right now. (And I can't even put what "it" is into words.)

I'm not worried though. Soon enough I'll climb outta this dark closet I'm hiding in and love "it" (whatever that is) again.

Here's ELD testing in my world:

I have a cute little kiddo with a great big personality in my ELD class. He's got a great vocabulary and thinks BIG thoughts.

For some very good reasons, he doesn't handle change very well though.

So the kids were taking an ELD test. My student teacher had them start with Part G rather than Part A (for reasons I cannot explain), and my smart little fourth grader completely melted down.

At first, I left him to work through it as best he could, but it soon became apparent (pounding on his desk, throwing test on the floor) that he wasn't working through anything.

Him: I CAN'T DO THIS!!!!! (dramatically slams head down on his arms on his desk.)

Me: Sure you can.

Him: THIS IS CRAZY!!!! (Sounded like "mmmth isthh crathy" because his face was completely smothered by his arms.)

Me: No, it's a test. One that you're going to find very easy. Let's give it a try together.

Him: THIS IS SOOOOOOO IMPORTANT!!!!!!

Me: Yes, it is. (Thinking: No, not really.)

Him: WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE DOING HERE?!?!

Me: That's a pretty deep question. I don't think we have time to explore all the possible...

Him: WITH THE TEST!!! WHY ARE WE STARTING ON PART G? EVERYONE KNOWS YOU START ON PART A!!!!

(If everyone didn't know it before, they know it now. His voice was at DefCon 10.)

Me: OooooOOhh. (insert lie) It has to be that way because that is the order I have to enter the scores into the computer. The "G" stands for "Go!" Crazy, huh?

Him: Oh. Ok!

And off he went on his test, satisfied that there was a logical explanation for the chaos in his universe.

Ahhh, if only all our problems were so easily solved.


3 comments:

Jane said...

Glad to see you back on here, Alpha!

Hats off to you for the quick thinking.

I think most folks don't realize that teachers have to be both uber-prepared and able to shoot from the hip.

I'm totally with your student...you gotta' start at A, people! :-)

Heather said...

Oh my! I can so feel your pain as to not feeling "it." I haven't posted on my blog for a couple weeks for the same reason. I'm exhausted! Sending some encouragement your way!

KellyMaag said...

I am a pre-service teacher, and after reading this I cannot even begin to think of how I would go about handling this! Definitely taking notes from your example, so thank you! I think you did a great job in handling the situation and continuing the lesson gracefully.