Split Classes Cause Big Drama

2/11/11
Twice now I've had the opportunity to teach while we have had extra kids in the classroom for the day. Both times the same teacher was missing, so mostly the same students were in my class.The second experience didn't go as well as we had a few different students and K had a couple small fits and then one enormous fit at the end of the day. The two fits he had in the morning were because my cooperating teacher was going in and out of the room trying to figure out how to split the class among the remaining Kindergarten teachers. Since the fits happened to occur when I was trying to teach and not my cooperating I had to find ways to work around the noise and the distraction that it was causing. The first two times I was able to get him to calm down simply by telling him to get up, get a tissue to wipe his face, and come back when he was ready. The last fit happened when I was trying to get the last group of Reading Mastery to the carpet and teach the lesson. He had an issue over another little girl sitting in the chair behind him because he said she would kick his chair so I simply moved their chairs apart so she wouldn't even be able to touch his and I showed this to him. I sat down to get started and he began crying and screaming. It was obvious it wasn't going to end quickly because he was louder and more intense. My teacher ended up taking him out in the hallway, but this did little to quiet the noise as he only escalated and began to bang his head against the wall. Trying to complete the RM lesson was difficult for me because I kept losing focus and having to get the students' attention back because they were distracted by K and the extra noise from the other students in the class. Even with all the noise I had one child that was falling asleep sitting in her chair. I kept having to call her name and tell her that she need to stay awake until she got home. I eventually scraped the lesson and had them go back to their seats and finish their day and night patterning that we had started before RM time. Even dismissal was hectic and I left school that day absolutely exhausted. Having 4 extra students to keep track of throughout the day mat not seem like a lot, but it completely changed the dynamic of the classroom. It kept me on my toes all day and had me in bed asleep by 8:30 because I was so tired.