45 Minutes in the Life

Disclaimer: Before reading this, wanted to let you know that I only teach 1-3 year old class so for the most part, class does NOT go like this....

So the bell rings to start class. I dawdle a little in the teachers room but eventually muster up the strength to go into deer class. When I walk in, three of the kids have climbed way up onto a ledge by the window. I frantically yell "No!" as I run in and pick them all up and off the ledge (about 5 feet off the ground). One little boy scratches me as I lift him up. When I set him down, he wraps his arms around my leg and bites.

Finally I calm the kids down, and then two of them run out of the classroom. When I eventually get them all back in, I get them all settled down colouring for a bit. Things seem to be looking up. After a while, they start to lose interest in colouring so I get up and attempt to engage them in an actions song but the kids are only half paying attention. I hear a noise and I look over and one boy is half on the table. I firmly tell him "No." and put him back in his chair. A moment later, he is standing on the table and has kicked everything off onto the floor.

I pick him up and say, "Michael, NO! Stop it!!" (In Korean) and he is kicking me and scratching and whatnot, so I remove him to the corner of the room. I put a little chair and try and get him to sit. He's screaming and throws the chair over across the room - pretty strong for a 3 year old. Then he starts to scream, "YA YA YA" over and over (I think it means something along the lines of hey you! And one of the little girls starts screaming it back at him, taunting.

So I'm yelling trying to get everyone to quiet down, and then Michael starts to scream at the top of his lungs. Meanwhile I'm running around trying to clean everything up.... Finally everyone calms down and I give out stickers and Michael seems all sad and worn out. I know kids need to break down once in a while... but man is it stressful!! So I give him a few stickers, and everything seems all good.

By the end of the class I get the kids smiling and laughing again, until Michael grabs my leg again and bites.. and the little girl thinks it looks cool so she does the same.

Finally after what seems like 14 hours of heavy warfare, the dismissal bell rings and I run out like a bat out of hell...