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Oops

Posted on March 29, 2012 by auburnchick

I have a couple of funny “oops” teaching moments from the week.

The first one happened a few days ago.  One of my students had been acting up, so I wrote his name on a sticky as a reminder to call his mother.  He saw me do this and fumed the rest of class.  My students are very aware that once they get their names written down, the axe is going to fall.

Well, I got sidetracked or, more likely, too busy and did not make that phone call.

The next afternoon, when the student walked into class, he paused and asked, “Mrs. AuburnChick, did you call my mom yesterday?”

“No, I didn’t have a chance to,” I replied.

“Well, since you said you were going to, I went ahead and told her what I’d done in your class,” he said.

Oops.

heeheehee

😀

The other oops was not exactly funny…um…just different.

It happened the day before yesterday.

One of my students just would not stop talking during class, and I finally got fed up and dialed his mother’s number right there in the middle of class.

I’d gotten her cell phone the last time this child had been acting up.

The phone rang and rang and rang.  Finally, she picked up…

“Hello,” she said very groggily.

“Hello, Mrs. Mom.  This is Mr. Talkative Student’s reading teacher, and I’m having a problem with your son.  Um, did I wake you up?” I asked.

“No, you didn’t.  It’s just that I just had outpatient surgery, and I’m in the recovery room,” she said.

AWKWARD

I seriously wanted the floor to open up and swallow me.

“Oh, Mrs. Mom.  I am so sorry,” I responded.

Shoot, I thought, what do you say in a situation like this?

I continued…”Mrs. Mom, I’m going to call back when you’re feeling better.  Please take care of yourself.  I’ll be praying for a speedy recovery.”

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

I turned to Mr. Talkative and asked if he knew his mom was having surgery.  He told me that he thought it was scheduled for the next day.

Well, apparently it wasn’t.

I admonished him, warning him in the strictest of voices to be kind to his mama and take care of her.

Oh yes.  Teaching is the perfect place for interesting moments such as the above.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

The Ups and Downs of Parenting

Posted on March 29, 2012 by auburnchick

I thought that having nearly grown children would slow down the emotional roller coaster ride I’ve been on for the last twenty or so years.

Wrong-O.

After being on a high of having my Chicky girl home last weekend, I’m hitting the lows again.

First of all, when Rooster picked me up from work yesterday (we were dealing with car problems), his face bespoke of his less-than-great first day at his new job.

He was terribly disappointed and discouraged, and even as I type this, I’m finding myself battling conflicting emotions of empathy and suck-it-up-ed-ness.

Rooster drove me to the car place to pick up Chicky’s vehicle, which I’ll be driving until she comes home in May since she had to leave it here to be repaired.  I called Chicky to gloat about driving her baby.

That’s when she told me she’d sprained her ankle yesterday during soccer practice, and she has to take it easy for a week or two.

My poor girl.  This is the third injury she’s had this season, and it’s killing me not to be there to force Motrin down her throat and tie ice to her bum ankle.

Sigh.

I’m wondering if I’m truly going through more ups and downs of parenting, or if I’m merely experiencing the onset of menopause and all of the emotional extremes that come with it.

It could, quite honestly, be a bit of both.

The parenting thing never really stops, or so I tell Chicky every time I feel a need to justify my overprotective nature (otherwise known as helicopter-mom-ed-ness).

I’m also a high school teacher, which means that I’m never far away from the teenage angst that sometimes leads me to question my own abilities as a fearless leader (yeah, right).

Sigh.

It’s too bad I don’t eat chocolate any more.  This would definitely be a time to indulge in a monster size bar of it!

Filed under: children | Tagged: | 4 Comments »