I am worried. Today one of my Y8s completely lost the plot and started ranting and shouting and crying at me. And I kept my cool and just soaked it all up. Strange.
Those of you who know me from back in the day will testify that I have a bit of a temper. Bit being a slight under-exaggeration. Perhaps the only girl to actually commit a violent act ever in the history of our wonderfully prim and proper independent school, I had a reputation as a bit of a hard nut. Unjustified really, I think I just lost control occassionally. But only cos I was immature and bit of an idiot.
But today, really, I remember feeling like I wanted to smack someone for only about a second, and then it all just flowed outta me and I was calm. I called the kid's mother and she was very supportive, and I think I will try and demand an apology from him on Thursday. But with regards to this little episode ruining my whole day, well, it didn't.
The reason I am worried is that I think I have become apathetic. The kid's behaviour should concern me I'm sure, I should be dwelling on it and thinking about how to fix the situation and how to avoid it happening in the future. But I don't really care.
Aaah it's a slippery slope, soon they'll all be walking all over me. Burn-out anyone? Hahaha, yes, paranoia too.
In other news, I think my Y7s are loving our current work multicultural maths. So far we've learnt to count, read, write and do sums in Chinese and Roman numerals, solved a number puzzle written in lots of different numbers scripts, learnt about time zones, and made Vedic square patterns. Still to come are lots of Vedic maths techniques using computers, rangoli patterns, islamic art, multiplication from around the world, and tangrams/egg-grams. I love teaching this way, it's so much more fun than textbook work and the kids are genuinely enthusiastic about it. Bless, maybe I care after all.
