It’s not easy being a kid. It’s particularly tough if you’re one of those types that are on the rougher side of the road.
If you’re one of those types you have lots of people getting irritated with you or making fun of you.
Let’s travel in George’s brain for a little bit and get a glimpse of some of his 8 year old boy thoughts while he is in his third grade class.
George thinks:
“Wait, did the teacher just say something? I see kids getting books out. What did she say? Oh, right. Open up your journals and start writing something. I didn’t hear what. I heard the word Thanksgiving. I will ask Malik…Jeez….he just told me to shut-up. What did I do? Maybe Zinnia knows. She always knows what to do. She just gives me a dirty look and tells me to stop tapping my pencil and that I’m ‘so annoying.’”
Mrs. Pryor comes over to talk to George. She sounds a little irritated.
“Wow. I’m in trouble again. Mrs. Pryor said she might have to send a Class Dojo*** message to my mother telling her I’m not paying attention again. She said we’re supposed to write something about Thanksgiving. Like, what’s our favorite part of Thanksgiving. I have no idea what to write. What can I say? I write, “turkey.” I can’t think of anything else. Zinnia laughs at me and says I’m so stupid and to stop playing with my pencil because it is getting on her nerves. I don’t know what’s so annoying. I was just clicking it.”
Mrs. Pryor tells George that he will either have to finish his Thanksgiving essay during free play or for homework. Mrs. Pryor puts something on the top of his paper.
“Oh no!!!!! A frowny face on my paper. I wrote, “turkey.” What else is there? Writing during free play!!! Oh man, she’s getting out class Dojo again….I think I’m in trouble…my mom told me I needed to pay attention more or she was taking me to this doctor…Malik tells me to cut it out…I don’t know what he means. He says I was picking my nose. I was not. He’s lying again. Oh no, Mrs. Pryor is asking people to start reading their Thanksgiving papers out loud. I hate Zinnia….she’s all done and she wrote a whole page. I just wrote “turkey.” I hate Zinnia.”
Mrs. Pryor says it’s time to line up to go to library.
“Oh, man. I’m almost at the end of the line again. I hate being at the end of the line. I’m never first. It’s not fair. Mrs. Pryor said I was pushing somebody. I was not. I just bumped into Spencer. Spencer yelled out, ‘He hit me!’ She’s going to Class Dojo again. I didn’t do anything. Nobody believes me. Zinnia is all the way in the front. I hate Zinnia.”
Takeaway Point
It’s not easy being a kid, especially if you are on the rougher side of the road.
(***Class Dojo is an online tool that keeps track of behavior.)
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