It's true... I made a 4th grade girl cry today. I felt kind of bad, but I didn't know what else to do. I was passing out the daily math facts practice - it was a new one that they hadn't done before. It was only 64 multiplication facts instead of the normal 100. You would think that this would make them happy, but we are in the advanced math class. I guess that this girl felt that she was too good for that one. As I was passing them out she asked why we were doing that fact practice. (It wasn't asked very nicely...) I told that this was the one that we were supposed to be doing, it's in the text book. Then, she threw the whole "But Mrs. Lines doesn't do it by the book...." in her whiny voice. I let her know that I was teaching the lesson and this was the fact practice we were going to do. She continued to try and argue with me so I finally just told her that I didn't have time to argue right now, but if she wanted to come in at recess and argue with me then that would be just fine. This stopped her, but as I got back to the front of the class to start the lesson, I noticed her crying. She cried for a good 15 minutes. At one point I went over to her and let her know that I wasn't upset with her, but she needed to know that she is not to argue with the teacher and that her behavior wasn't acceptable. I also asked her if she wanted to be excused to go to the bathroom to gain control of herself. She declined this and continued to cry for another five minutes or so.
I spoke with my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Lines, about the situation after math. (Oh, and by the end of the math lesson, the girl was just fine and talking with me like she normally does.) Mrs. Lines let me know that she believed I handled the situation great and that what I had told her was the best way to get her stop arguing and to know that it wasn't appropriate. I felt better after that.... But, I did make a girl cry today.
