The Running of the Bullies

Yesterday was Field Day at my school. And by Field Day, I mean Field Hour-and-a-Half for my grade level, which is really all the time we needed outside in the heat.

For the past couple of years, I have been having back problems and foot problems, but I decided yesterday that I was tired of NOT running the race with my kids and being a slave to health issues. So I ran.

The really screwy thing was that (in addition to eating a large, catered barbecue lunch immediately beforehand), I hadn't run in 2 years, and believe it or not, I was actually very nervous about running! As my class and I all lined up at the starting mark, I had butterflies in my stomach, and my legs felt a little weak!

However, as soon as the whistle was blown and I got those first couple of strides out of the way, it all came back to me, like riding a bicycle or gutting a shark, and I blew the competition away. Sure, they were all 9 and 10 year olds, but still, I smoked 'em!

Field Day was a lot of fun, and afterwards, I went out with a couple of friends and stayed out late. Needless to say, this morning, my body aches -- from the effects of a certain adult beverage AND the first run in years. I laughed so much and so hard last night that my abs actually are sore. Let's just say that when the cheesy cover band asks for audience help in singing the "Bum bum bummm" part of "Sweet Caroline," it is MUCH more fun to sing it at the wrong times during the song (and after).

While Field Day was fun, the parent conference I had the day before was not. It seems that one of my kids, who doesn't speak much English, has been experiencing quite a bit of bullying by his classmates. They have been calling him names like "gordo," "feo," "cabeza cuadrado," and so on. To make matters worse, a lot of it has apparently been going on in my classroom, right under my nose!

My Spanish is not the greatest, so when I hear kids speaking in Spanish to this boy, I had always thought that they were actually doing what they were supposed to be doing, which was translating what I was saying, so that he would understand the instructions. Instead, they have sometimes been mocking him, NOT helping him, and in cases, doing very inappropriate things.

Those kids have now been moved, and this boy has 3 new kids at his table, kids that I trust to do the right thing.

Looks like we will be having several more parent conferences this week to discuss the bullying itself...

Running without Scissors

Today was Field Day for the third grade -- or as we like to call it, Field Hour and a Half. Overall, it went pretty well. I think that it helped not having two of our newest little terrors present. They were suspended on Tuesday for fighting and biting each other.

All week long the kids have been asking me if I would race against them on Field Day. So I obliged today and made my yearly sprint. And I am proud to say that I'm still reigning champion. Of course, I learned my lessons from last year. Do NOT go in the Bouncy House before running a race. Do not give the kids a 20 foot head start. That might have worked when I was 32, but now that I'm 34, I need that edge. And most importantly, run ONE race. Last year, I ran several races and was dead tired by the end. So today, I waited till the very end and then said I would race against anyone from my two classes who so desired. I think I wound up running against about 25 kids.

Mrs. Educator (who by the way, did NOT race against the kids) brought her class over so they could run against me too and suggested that we run the 75 yards down to the end of the field and then back. I stopped her right there.

“Whoa, whoa whoa! We are running DOWN to the end, but we're NOT running back!”

And even though I actually waited until Mr. Van Gogh said “GO!” And even though I beat one of the kids by less than 2 yards -- the fact remains, my legacy is safe for at least one more year.

The Flash lives.


Upon reentering the classroom after Field Day, one of my kids asked me, "When we come back from Spring Break, will we be in the 4th grade?”

Sure, and I will have ascended to Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.

No, I was nice. And I think he was asking because he had just learned that he had passed the TAKS Reading test. We got our results back on Wednesday, and almost 84% of our third-graders passed! This is really spectacular for our school and our area in general. So we're very proud of the kids. But they do still have to take the Math TAKS before they can go to the next grade.

Although there's certainly some that I would love to promote (or demote) over Spring Break.