The Storm IS the Calm

Today was the first day of the school/work week for us.  We didn't come in Monday because of the snow, and today was a 2 hour delay.  On the outside, the crusty part as it turns out, a day off and sleeping in today - awesome.  The gooey undercooked middle is the mental state of the students on such days.  

For instance: 

One student refused to do any work at any point in the day - and anytime I would try to coax her into anything productive, she would stomp around the room chanting "I want to go back to my ditch."  Community service? No - she had just spent a day digging a ditch in her yard out of snow. She stopped talking to me about halfway through the day, or I'd update you on her ditch planning status.  

Another student came in to school wearing a cloak of horrible mood.  He laid in the middle of the room and refused to move for a good portion of the morning, and then finally sat up in the middle floor for the rest - pushing everything around him out of his way and across the room.  As we were lining up for lunch, he retreated to his seat.  Horrible timing - as we were trying to talk him into leaving the room now to go to lunch.  My usual trick of sending him early to "hold our seats" didn't work, as he groaned and grunted his disagreement.  

He finally showed up to work, but refused to eat lunch.  The rest of the afternoon did not look up for us, he and I... and we just agreed to disagree on any and everything - including when he plugged his ears and hummed at the top of his lungs. During my minilesson.  I was definitely at a level 4 voice trying to talk over him.  But, friends, at least I wasn't talking over his sobs like last week.  

Here's to tomorrow and all of the potential to be a better day!