I am in the home stretch for subbing. This is the last week I will be doing it, for this school year at least. Today I taught first grade.
Around 10:30, one little girl was crying hysterically because she though people were being unfair to her. I told her to try to calm down before she made herself sick, and had her sit down for a bit. She said that she wanted to get sick so she could go home.
At this point it was time for recess, and I had duty. I escorted the class out to the playground, with her still sobbing beside me. I started to talk to her in a calm, calm voice, telling her that it was too bad she was crying so much on such a lovely day. I got her to the point were she was actually breathing, and struck a deal with her. If she would go and give playing in the sunshine a try, and still felt bummed out after recess and snack, I would look into sending her home. She walked off and sat down in a small ball on a piece of playground equipment for a minute or two, then came back again, crying once more because no one was playing with her.
It took a few more minutes to get her back to non-hysterical. I got her breathing deeply, and told her a story of when I was in first grade, and would cry in school. I got her to take some deep breaths, and then I took her by the hand. We walked over to the monkey bars, where some of her classmates were playing. I told them that she was feeling pretty bummed, and could use some cheering up by friends. They immediately included her in their game of seeing who could hang from the bar the longest. (She could.) Within a minute, she was all smiles.
It might not have been the way a trained, certified teacher would have handled it, but it worked. It was a far cry from my second ever assignment. I had to talk a crying kindergartener out from under a table, and almost ended up under the teacher's desk, in tears myself. Was that really only December?
