Determining your Altitude...

I love my kids, ya know?  But sometimes they just aren't the brightest.  For some reason they haven't really developed those ultra-important problem-solving skills that they should posses.  I don't expect my class of 8-yr-olds to solve world hunger, I just think they should be able figure out how much time is left between now and lunch, or know that when you look in your book an page 19 is finished, instead of rushing to Mr. B in a panic, just move on to the next page that isn't finished, or figure out that question 1 in the test book goes with question 1 on the answer sheet.  This isn't rocket science!

One particularly aggravating moment came when, during a standardized test (prepare yourself for a ranting post about this sometime in the future) one girl was confused about the word "punctuation."  I'm not really allowed to clarify anything on a test because...well...it's a test.  All she really had to do was figure out which sentence had the incorrect punctuation - which you can do without knowing what punctuation is, and which we do every single day in class - but she was so caught up on the word "punctuation" that it was totally hindering her progress.  

And speaking of this girl, she's been giving me LOADS of attitude lately.  Today, during our test, she wanted a drink, but it's a timed test, so I said, "No."  She pouted and said she wouldn't finish her test unless I let her get a drink.  I told her I'd let her get a drink when she finished her test.  After that section, we were moving onto a different section and I noticed her desk was clear.  I asked where her book was, she said it was on the floor, I asked why and she said, "because you wouldn't let me get a drink."  I looked at her - a bit shocked and bewildered by this latest in a string of manipulative attempts - and said, rather forcefully, "So?!"  When lunch came around I said, "I'm tempted to take away your recess today.  Go ahead and go, but if I don't see some serious attitude changes by Monday, you're going to have some problems."  She said, "I just won't come to school Monday."  I said, "Fine.  Don't come."  I can see that we may be butting heads for a while.  She's used to being able to manipulate people that way, but I won't take it from her.  I think it's throwing her off - which honestly kind of makes me laugh. 

On a more positive note, and as an ending to this rather long diatribe - 

Today we were doing a comparison activity.  As an example we were comparing Barbies with casserole and I asked what they had in common to try and get my kids to think outside the box a little.  One kid said, "They both have bad taste."  Yes, one of my very own students made that up.  They may not always be the brightest, but sometimes they surprise me.