The Terminator

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Today started off just like every other day. I woke up at the early morning hour of 4 am and got ready for school. That may have been my first mistake. Actually, I believe getting out of bed was my first mistake and then leaving my house to go to school was my second.

Thursday is a rough day for me. I teach 7 40 minute periods, most of which are back to back. I am much better when I teach a period and then have a period off. I will even settle for two classes back to back, but when there are four in a row...I tend to feel a little like jumping out of my classroom window. That is, if I wasn't on the first floor.

My students had a reading test first thing in the morning and they also had a a math test right after recess. I thought that today would be a little quiet due to the fact that for at least two of the classes, they would be silently taking their tests. Oh, how wrong I was!

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but apparently I taught the material so well that it only took them a about 10 minutes to do each of those tests. So I was left with going through the list of games and activities I know and even some that I didn't. Although games can be fun, these kids are very competitive and they can get quite loud when they feel like they're losing...or even if they are winning. Basically today was loud loud loud! I did mark the test and most of the kids got perfect on both of the tests today. So again, good for me and them, but my god. They drove me up the wall and then some today!

My favourite part of the hectic loud day came right after lunch. When I walked into the class my kids were freaking out and I couldn't figure out why at first. Until I looked up. I did my best to remain calm, knowing that if I panic and scream and run over children it would be complete mayhem in my class. But in the end, I may as well have just done what comes naturally to me, it ended up pretty much the same anyways.

When I looked up I saw the biggest wasp I have ever seen. They just grow them bigger here in Honduras, I swear! So now the kids are screaming, I am frozen in the middle of the room thinking please let this be a bad dream. It was most certainly a not a bad dream, it was the Terminator of wasps. I figure if even the kids are screaming, there must be good reason. Maybe they have more than one stinger...it is my deepest fears being realized. Wasps that can sting with many different stingers!Oh no!

Again, my family and friends should be very proud of me. I did not scream, okay, I meant I did not scream out loud. I left my class to look for a broom to kill the Terminator. The whole time I am looking for the broom, I am praying that the cockroach comes back instead of this Terminator of wasps.

I of course, did not find a broom. I found the next best thing. I found a Honduran teacher named Shirley and calmly asked her where a broom was. That's right, I did not ask her to kill it for me. She just willingly came into my classroom and started swatting at it. Now I was even more panicked thinking, oh sure, you swat it and it'll get nice and pissed and set it's sights on me.

It was her brilliant idea to get the kids out of the classroom while she went after the terminator. I knew what a mistake that would be. Now I have 25 kids running through the halls and into the courtyard screaming as if their lives depended on it. So as Shirley is swatting away, i am in the hall trying to round up 25 screaming kids. Except, now the kids have multiplied. Now Shirley's kids are running and screaming.

She was finally able to kill it after at least 10 minutes of chasing it in the classroom. Now, although I didn't personally killed it, the thought crossed my mind. I believe that the thought alone should count for something. I can now say though, I will take another mammoth cockroach over the terminator of wasps any day. The day that I see a tarantula, I am not quite sure what I will pray for then...other than a plane ticket home lol.

Trying to teach three classes after the Terminator incident proved to be futile. They were absolutely crazy today and wanted to have nothing to do with sitting down, let alone being quiet.

I did have Spanish class today, which was the nicest part of my day. It was so serene in the library. So quiet. It was amazing and most definitely needed.

I guess the only good thing about getting out of bed this morning was learning that although I have made some great improvements in the whole bee, wasp, hornet situation...I am not completely cured just yet. Wait, that wasn't even a good thing. So much for the glass half full. I was right the first time, I should've just stayed in bed.

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Comments

[Julie]

The dead game!!
This is always a favorite game among the children and of course the adults!!You have the children all find a place to lay or sit and you watch them who ever moves or speaks is out until you have one left and with your competitive kids it will work wonders!!!LOL Ask Tina the kids love the dead game!!!Hell if they move pretend you didn't see it will make the game last that much longer at least it will give you some quiet time!:)

[Tina]

Dead man!
The first summer that we played this with all the kids on Kathleen I mean there must have been at least 25 kids on my front lawn. Julie started this game. Wow talk about peace and quiet for at least 2 hours. Till they realized that it was not really a game so much as keeping them still and quiet. However we do still play this game every now and then when things are chaotic. You ADHD child may not like it though. They seem to be the first ones out. Actually Jocelyn would just sit with them all and then say "I'm out" she made it that easy for herself. Wow those were the good old days. Thanks for the walk down memory lane Julie.