about Perspective (Part 1): What would you do? How would you feel?
3 CommentsImagine you are a teacher of 20 elementary-school aged children and are also 37-weeks pregnant. In the middle of the hustle and bustle of a classroom party, one your students all of a sudden flees the room without you noticing.
Imagine you are a substitute for a teacher who is on a 6-week leave. Without warning, one of your students begins crumpling and ripping up all of his papers.
Imagine you are the parent of a 1st grader. You get a call from the school to come get your child. You learn that he has developed a large knot on his head because another child threw a chair that hit him.
Imagine you are the Principal of a pprimary school. A student has been brought to you for disrupting the classroom. He spits at you, disrobes, and urinates on the floor in your office.
Imagine you are the parent of that child.
Imagine you are that child.
This is Part 1 of a series of articles on Perspective. I have been procrastinating addressing a controversial topic, but because I don’t want to default on my New Year’s Resolution, I decided to take baby steps.
If you choose to share your thoughts, please post on the original post where you can also choose to post anonymously. Please be honest, especially with yourself…
Related posts:
I’d imagine that I was over stimulated or that I didn’t know how to get the help I needed. I would feel like I had no place of refuge in the school to go to and calm down. I probably have shut out the people at the school because I feel that they don’t like me and I don’t like what they are trying to tell me.
That’s a lot of perspective – and hard – but excellent for us to go through. I believe perspective plays a huge role in life and it colors everything we do. So here’s what’s in my head now:
As the regular, very pregnant teacher, I’m sure I’d feel panic – and stressed – and crazy. And then probably (after locating said child) po’d that this had happened.
As the sub – you say ‘without warning’ – as in I know nothing about this child, and do not expect anything unusual from them ? I’m sure the crumpling/tearing would appear defiant without any background. Of course I bring my own baggage, and if it were me in there with my brain in tact, I’d probably wonder what was causing something like that… is it defiance? is it a sensory need? is it compulsive?
The parent with the child that got hit by the chair – hmmm yeah, angry. And scared – what if it happens again? What has been put in place to prevent this from happening again. What if the injury were worse? (and see, I get this even though my own child was once on the other side of that equation – where he pushed down a playmate and then choked them… he’s come SO far since then!)
The Principal – is this my first experience with this child? I personally don’t have an education background… but I would still think that this behavior is NOT Typical. I would hope I could have an open discussion with the parents about this ‘unusual, disturbing’ behavior.
As a parent of this child? Very often at wit’s end. Why can’t I get my child the help he so very much needs. Why does he do these things? Is he overwhelmed? Is it sensory? Is it agitation? Is it frustration with something internal or external? How do I talk to the school? Do they hear me? Or are they just following their own agenda. What goes on all day when I’m not there to watch them? Why does it always feel like I’M doing all the work and they just dictate what needs to be done at home?
As the child? Frustration, embarrassment. Knowing something is wrong and feeling an intense need to do it anyway. Shutting down and not letting people in. Fear.
All of the above!