Hmm...

Is it bad when you tell your students, "If I hear my name one more time without a hand being raised, I'm taking a self time-out?!"

If it is, take my teaching certificate away. I had one of those days.

A self time-out is a time-out that the kids ask for to take a little break when something is frustrating them or they need to be away from the group. Sometimes I wish I could take them.


This was after:

• a kid flipped me off (not too uncommon)
• a kid "bucked" at me (when you step towards someone like you're going to hit them)
• my room was destroyed not once, but twice
• I had to break up a fight
• I had heard my name seriously 1,992 times without a hand being raised
• a kid put 15 circle counters in his mouth and I touched them after he spit them out
• a 6 year old told me to "shut the f*ck up!".. only he used the real words
• I had white paint ALL OVER my classroom because someone decided to walk on their hands that we had just painted to create hand print snowflakes

I think I kind of deserved a self time-out.

The only thing that made it better? The little guy who came up to me and said, "You look like you need a hug. A big bear hug. Where I don't let go until your angry thoughts go away."

Seriously, dude? You read my mind. Even though just two minutes before I wanted to kick you out of my classroom for playing hopscotch from chair to chair.