5 for 1 Project: Day 1 with TA

I have been really frustrated with my schedule lately. Last week we had a bunch of snow days and an in-service day. This week I had the lucky chance to be picked for jury duty and sat through two days of a trial. The whole time I kept thinking about how much I would rather be teaching. All this to say, I decided to start my 5 for 1 project today and carry it into next week.

The first day of this project with my little guy, who I will call TA, didn't start so well. I came back to hear that TA was extremely wild and crazy for the substitute teacher. So to start the day, I had to address behavior issues and assign punishment. Behavior with substitutes is one of my biggies and the kids know that. I couldn't let it just slide. He seemed fine with the punishment, and we moved on. Later on I tried to reach out to him by letting him select $5 worth of books from Scholastic, since I found his order form crumpled up in the hall. It was still highlighted with the choices he was hoping his mom would let him pick from. It obviously never made it to her hands. At first when I told him to pick something that would add up to $5, he said, "Where am I going to get $5?" I smiled at him and let him know if was from me. He checked my countenance to see if I was joking. He then re-marked a few items and I tried to help him select the items he would like the most. When the end of the day came around he still couldn't decide yet. I was wondering if maybe he was prolonging the adventure of choosing.

My reflections of his character are such that he creates a distance between himself and others by doing a variety of things. He will avoid eye contact and act uninterested. He will talk out, joke, or doing a mocking voice to always keep the mood light. He will never answer a question or assignment that shows his feelings or reveals a flaw in his character.

He is one tough cookie, but you can't have him.

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