Elementary Teaching at It's Finest

I have known for quite sometime that the world of elementary school is not for me. Even if I had a fantastic teaching partner, I am not sure that elementary kids are my thing. The kids just bug me. All the little things that other elementary teachers think are so enduring and cute, just annoy me! I have some kids that I really like, but overall the loose teeth, the whining, the tattling, the crying, the tantrums, and the screaming are just too much for me. I am sure many people would feel the same way about junior high kids, but I guess the older ones are just more my style :) Anyway, recently I have witnessed some very interesting outbursts. A boy who is angry all the time got mad at us for telling him to put the equipment down. As he was walking to his place against the wall for timeout, he took a shoe off. As he took the shoe off, he stared at me like he was going to throw it at me. He did not throw it at me, but he did throw it in the middle of the gym. Then, he took his other shoe off and threw that one, too. I asked him why he did that, and he wouldn't answer. I asked him what he was going to do now that he was shoeless in the gym. Again, he wouldn't answer. I tried to ignore him, but then I noticed that he had taken his socks off and put them on his hands. With his socks on his hands and bare feet, he was "air punching" in my direction. What a little angry weirdo!

Today was even better. We have a little kindergartener who has gone crazy a few times, but today was the ultimate. She didn't want to run her laps outside, so she just sat down on the ground. Diana, our PE aide, picked her up, and when she got on her feet she took off running. The only problem was that she took off in the wrong direction. I hear Diana say, "I can't get McKenna to come to me." I thought she was kidding until I saw this little blonde 5 year old dressed in pink from head to toe running away from her and away from the school, so I went to help. She would not listen to either of us, and she would not come our way at all. We decided to try to "corner" her in the corner of the fence. Of course, we are right off a super busy street, and it is just me, Diana, and this crazy kid out on the entire playground area! We finally got her, and then she refused to walk. We had to practically drag her about 100 yards back to the school. It was quite an interesting experience! One more reason why it's time for me to go...