I dont know how many of you know this, but I’ve been teaching elementary kids for the past five years now. This career choice has both its upsides and downsides, but I’ve always managed to find teaching personally rewarding. This is the main reason I still teach to this day.

Anyways, to make a long story short, I was interupted today in the middle of my reading class by a fairly large group of students. Followed by these students were their desks, chairs, and teacher! Hello? At first I could not understand it, then I realized they were setting up in the back of my classroom in the middle of my lecture!!! I stopped the lesson immediately to investigate the scene. The principal soon arrived and apologized for the interuption.

I have awesome administrators who always help me when I need it, so I was more than happy to ask what I could do to lend a hand. Apparently these kids were “out of control” in their reading room. She explained to me that their teacher could not control her students and that she wanted them to be taught in my room.

I’m a very straight forward teacher. Basically I dont bullshit. The kids respect me because I respect them and they know I mean business. Thats how I run my classroom. Understand that I do have fun with my kids, but they know the difference between playtime and worktime. I focus on discipline for at least two weeks before working on content areas. Its so important. How can you teach a classroom full of nine and ten year olds without laying down the rules of the house? Its virtually impossible to be successful.

The problem that I face now is providing my reading students with a proper reading environment while tuning out the noise and lecture of another teacher in my classroom. Its virtually impossible. This big sudden change in my classroom does not allow for an adequate learning environment for my students, and quite frankly Im pretty upset about it. I really do want to help my admin. They are both great people, but I feel like we have to find a better solution to this matter.

I will not compromise my students learning because another teacher cant figure out how to handle the students in her classroom. I handle her same students for math! Come on! Take a class on proper discipline for kids because every year there will be groups of students who will be tough to work with. If you cant handle the problem, maybe its time you found a different profession.

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