#craycray

Teaching is tough. Those folks thinking this profession is easy are ignorantly wrong. Unfortunate for us, too many don't understand the challenges teachers creatively maneuver daily. Those same too many vote against teacher raises and therefore not only are we over-worked, we are also grossly underpaid. We teach anyways. Are we crazy? Yes. From my field research I can positively say really good teachers are a sliding scale of coo-coo. It is a necessary personality trait to be successful in the classroom... I wear my crazy proudly.

The crazy Im suggesting looks a lot like this:

 Students are teaming up and testing their limits by refusing to settle themselves down for instructions. Teacher repeatedly asks, "Put your notebooks away and join me on the carpet." Request ignored. Limit testing continues with chatter and wandering around the room. The teacher is quickly losing control of the classroom. In steps Crazy... Teacher walks to the Word Wall where the alphabets and vocabulary words are colorfully displayed and begins to whisper to the letter 'H'. She then places her ear near the letter and nods her head. She laughs hysterically then shrugs her shoulders while looking at the students beginning to notice her acting oddly. She continues to listen to the wall and giggle. The she whispers each student's names while pointing at them; as if she is telling the wall some secret about each one named. A hush begins to fall over the classroom as children are taking notice. One by one they place their journals on the shelf as they come to sit on the carpet. Their eyes are locked, watching their crazy teacher talk to the Wall. She then spontaneously belts out the sing-along, "Happy Birthday!" The children laugh and some sing-along. The teacher shares with her little people that the letter 'H' had a birthday and wanted everyone to participate. Again they sing, this time as a class with shared purpose. She now has their attention and is able to introduce her planned lesson.

#Skills. It takes unconventional thinking to reach students of 2016. We can no longer smack their knuckles with rulers when they are 'disobedient'. Nor can we shame them into submission. It's common practice to help build their self-concepts by refraining from intimidation tactics such as dunce caps, setting them outside the classroom in 'time-out' and low-brow, clenched teeth threats. Thus leaving the antiquated, tried-and-trusted disciplinary tools of our youth back in the same dusty resource rooms with the overhead projectors.

So what's left? Bribing and Crazy. Majority of us don't get paid enough to splurge on Spiderman and Frozen paraphernalia so........ #craycray. Everyday I leave my 'cool' in the truck and put on the whole armor of wacky. And my creative, rambunctious, autonomous, growing geniuses expect nothing less from me. Im crazy and they only push so hard... we have an understanding. Crazy love.