L-O-S-E-R Like Me!!

Thanks, Chels, for this blog title LOL


If some folks are familiar with that Fox show "Glee," they had an episode where they wrote their own lyrics to a song called "Loser Like Me." Here are a couple of lines:


"Just go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth
So everyone can hear
Hit me with the worst you got and knock me down
Baby, I don't care
Keep it up, and soon enough you'll figure out
You wanna be...
A loser like me"


I have a student who is particularly difficult. He is very aware of the choices that he makes, he knows what he needs to do, yet he chooses the path that isn't always best. Here's an example:


He's squeaking around on the bike track with his trike and I yell out, "Room 1, line up please." Most of the kids start running toward our classroom to line up, but he's still squeaking around on the bike, as if he didn't hear me. 


I continue to watch him, and he is aware of this, but he's still going. I repeat, "Room 1, line up please." Again, nothing.


So I finally jump in front of his bike to obstruct his path, put both hands on the handle bar, bend down so that I'm in his face, and I say with a firm voice, "Park the bike right now, we're done."


He says, "But I want to..." and I interject with a "Park it now" and I point to the bike parking lot. [He was going to tell me that he wanted to finish his lap before parking it. In other words, he wanted to park the bike on his own terms.]


He heads over in a huff, but he stops in his tracks, turns to me and says, "When I see you, I'm not going to smile at you or be happy to see you." I said, "Fine. Just park the bike."


YES. This is the student who called me a loser.


Here's how it went down!


We're sitting in circle and I'm starting to call students so that they can go wash their hands for lunch (we have lunch in our classroom). But, to sit in circle, the kids need to sit "criss cross apple sauce, hands on your lap." 


The rest of the kids are sitting with their legs crossed, but not him. His legs are sprawled out right in front of him, he's chillin'. Everyone else is done, but he's still sitting there. I say, "I'm waiting for you to sit criss cross applesause. I know you can do it, I've seen you do it before." Nothing. So I say, "Fine, you can sit there until you show me that you can sit nicely." So I'm doing my own thing and trying not to look in his direction.


He calls me over, "Teacher! I'm sitting nicely now!" And I say, "Good. Now I want to see if you can stay like that." After a series of leg-straightening and crossing, he finally stays cross-legged. I sit down right in front of him and say, "See, I know that you can sit nicely. Now I want you to sit like that all the time. You can go wash your hands now." 


AS SOON as I finish saying that, he takes one of his legs and straightens it out, then he says, "But I'm not sitting criss cross applesauce." OKAY. I said, "Just go wash your hands," again in a firm tone. He stomps off and washes his hands. VICTORY! I think...


I'm putting some beds down for nap time and I hear a voice, but I'm not sure where it's coming from. I hear, "You're a loser." I couldn't tell if it came from the bathroom or from the tables where the rest of the kids are eating and talking, so I brush it off. The next voice is clear and distinct and I know it's coming from the restroom, "Teacher Em... (in a teasing and inciting melody)" I turn my head so that this child and I are looking eye to eye, "you're a loser." WOW.


I walked over quickly and told him, "You DO NOT talk to me like that. You don't talk to anyone like that. That hurt my feelings. I'm going to have to talk to your mom." 


"I'm sorry. I said I'm sorry. No, don't do that. I'm sorry."


"I heard you say sorry, but I'm still going to talk to your mom."


QUIET. He drags himself to the table for lunch and he's sulking. But, come on, you can't talk to people like that.