A MOMent of Clarity

The field trip we went on was great!  We went to the Maryland Science Center and it was AWESOME!  The whole place was hands-on and the kids LOVED it.  The weather was beautiful and we were even able to eat our lunches outside at the beautiful Baltimore Harbor. 

One of the parents talked to me before boarding the bus to go home.  He looked absolutely exhausted as he herded his four kids onto the bus after only two hours of museum fun.  He asked me with a mixed look of wonderment and horror, "How do you do manage 28 kids all day long AND teach them something in the process??"  I just smiled and laughed.

It got me thinking though.

Yesterday we were finishing our first ever five paragraph essays in fourth grade.  Writing is HARD.  Especially when you are trying to teach 28 students that are all on COMPLETELY different levels.  Some finished all five paragraphs and had it typed by Tuesday.  Others had less than five sentences written on Wednesday.

I was sitting at the back reading group table with a laptop on my lap editing a student's paper, consulting the two on the desktop computers behind me about formatting issues, in front of me was a line of 5+ students deep, a child desperately giving me the signal for the restroom across the room, two girls that *thought* they were getting away with passing a note, and about 20 other students (hopefully) working on their essays.

I nodded to the poor student with her teeth floating, I put my hand palm up out and said, "NOTE" with a disapproving look while pointing to the reminder book (our behavior system) with my other hand, and continued to edit the multiple papers.  In the midst of all of this, a student helper came up to me with a paper that didn't have a name on it.  I took one look at it and hollered, "P-----, you should trying putting your name on your paper next time."  He came and retrieved it with a sheepish grin and turned it in.

The student in the front of my growing line looked at me with complete amazement and said, "Mrs. S---, how did you know it was his???"  I responded, "I know all 28 of your voices, your handwriting, your likes and dislikes... I know what you're going to do before you do it."

He looked at me and said, "You're like all of our MOMS, but AT SCHOOL."

I guess I kind of am.