Somebody put squirrels in my desks

Visiting the great state of Colorado was wonderful but I think it took me out of the teacher world for a little too long. I stepped into the classroom this morning and I realized that the students were buzzing with energy... not the "Let's get to work and learn French" kind of energy, either. No. This energy possesses students into thinking that their voice is at a frequency where the teacher will not hear it. False. I may be becoming deaf, but I'm not there yet.

With this bucket of cold water, I'm looking at my students and wondering how to get us all through to Thanksgiving break. It is a dangerous mission that could fail at the slightest false wind.

The first plan of action: create another seating chart. I sat down this evening to draft some more charts and ended up becoming more frustrated than I was in the beginning. I will attribute that to the memories of the day. Don't get me wrong. The day was decent, it is just more decent when you let yourself forget all the students you had to keep in line.

The second plan of action: find activities that they will have to move for. I have never claimed to be the world's most creative person, but now more than ever, I'm realizing that I am definitely not that person. If I could parallel this feeling to anything, it would be if you were backed up against a wall and the person doing the cornering was demanding you to do a cartwheel. Yeah right.

The third plan of action (and most certainly not the least): Pray more than I think I need to. Patience doesn't come from the fallible composition of dust that we like to call the superior being. Nah. It comes from another source and we often suppress it. During this time, when patience is running low and students are not paying attention, there is no way that I can keep smiling at the squirrels. All I want to do is catch them with a net and release them into someone else's cage.

I hope that I'll be able to find a solution, otherwise this next week is going to be so long.