Monday, December 7, 2009

grinch like

My Monday afternoon duty takes place amongst our many trailers ( "learning cottages" for those who dislike the term trailer). This is usually a fairly boring duty compared to my old post at kiss and ride, where one is always afraid that a parent on a cell phone is going to run you over.

Today, however, we still had snow on the ground. The students must have misunderstood "Bus 1, 2, and 3 are dismissed" for "Please pack ice into small balls to throw at your friends", and "Students going to daycare are now dismissed" for "Please tromp through the snow and get your pants as wet as possible".

Really. The poor children whose names I knew were in trouble first, the rest I could only yell, "Drop the snow!" "Get to your bus!" "Get your feet out of the snow!"

And somewhere in there I stood back and heard myself- the Grinch who stole the Snow.

For some of our children this was their first or second time every seeing snow. How does one not reach down and stick ones hand into the cold, wet, whiteness?

They can't miss their buses, they can't have snowball fights, and they really should keep their shoes dry so they wont get sick. I just wish I didn't have to be the one to deliver the depressing no-fun news.

3 comments:

Angela Watson said...

I was just thinking about that grinch-like feeling today, and how it's probably the thing I will miss least when I leave classroom teaching next month. Sure, I hate the paperwork and NCLB, etc. But I HATE having to stifle little gigglers in the hallway, and tell rambunctious little boys on the playground that nerf footballs are against school rules, and interrupting sweet, meaningful conversations between students to urge them to finish their work. I hate spoiling the fun of childhood. :-(

Snippety Gibbet said...

I can relate. I hate those times when I correct, give the evil eye, or turn someone around to walk in the hall. It's not fun being the bad guy.

Kirsten said...

My first-grader managed to find a puddle to fall into. Sigh.