VICTORY!!!

Feeling talkative today because I'm happy. It's no secret that I've been struggling with the whole teaching thing, but today was a really good day. All of my classes went really well and i even converted some of the difficult kids. Miss Lauren is finally winning over the disgruntled middle and high school masses!!! The turning point in my somewhat defeatist attitude is all thanks to an extremely difficult little boy who will henceforth be referred to as Y. Y is the terror of his class. Thanks to a disappearing teacher, I have his class twice a week instead of once a month (voluntarily of course. I suppose I'm a bit of a masochist.). As a result, this is the only class where I know everyone's names. Y is a pain in the ass. The biggest candidate for ADD and ADHD medication I've ever seen. The boy never stops talking, moving and making life difficult for everyone around him. Last week he finally vocalised his blatant disregard for my class by saying "Why bother with this class? I'm never going to use English anyways." I'd pretty much given up on capturing his interest. But lo and behold, it is possible. We split the kids up into the good kids and the troublemakers today, and I took the troublemakers to the back of the room to give them my own lesson, where they couldn't disturb the other kids who wanted to work. With the exception of one (B, the devil incarnate) the rest of the kids (who are normally quite disruptive, be it constant chattering or actual violence) were GREAT! They seemed to really enjoy the lesson I gave (which really wasnt the most interesting) and Y was actually helpful! He volunteered information. He participated. He did things I was not previously aware that he was capable of doing. And at the end of the lesson he uttered the most beautiful words I've ever heard: "Miss, can we do this every lesson? That way we can learn more and learn better." The boy wanted to learn. The boy that dismissed my subject as completely worthless was asking for more knowledge. From me! I almost hugged him. Instead I gave him a green sparkly smiley face sticker. It seemed to have the same effect.