Wednesday, February 27, 2008

maS

I have a kid in my class, his name is Sam. Sam can't spell his name. That is just so tragically sad I think it’s past funny. I have tried freakin everything to get this kid to spell his name, but nothing, nada, zip. There is some major miswiring in his brain. I mean that in the most respectful way. Sam writes his name like this:

He starts with the ‘s’ and then goes backwards. I have made him trace cards, given him fat pens, skinny pens, heavy pens, light pens, glittery pens to write with, put stars, stickers, dots, arrows where he needs to start writing his name, held his hand while he writes, given him individual trace cards of the letters, and I make him do all of these things about 683 times a day. And he still writes his name like this:
The other day we were moving into small groups to do some patterning and sorting stuff (seriously, there is nothing that can describe the pain of such a brain numbingly empty void of time that is 'little kid maths'), and I was putting out different stuff around the room and calling over small groups of kids to each pile of goodies. Anyway, I turn back to grab the next pile of stuff for the next group of kids only to find maS sitting at his desk. I asked him why he was there...he had no idea. Went something like this:
Me: "maS, how come you're at your desk mate?"
maS: " "
Me: "maS, is anyone else at their desk sweetie?"
maS: " "
Me: "maS do you think you are in the right place?"
maS: " "
Me: "maS can you see what everyone else is doing?"
Sam: " "


At this stage one of my darling angels comes to save me by grabbing his hand and telling him "maS, she didn't say your name yet, come back to the floor". At which point I didn't know whether to cry out of frustration, cry cause I really do teach the sweetest most caring kids ever, cry cause maS just doesn't get 'it' or go across the road to the pub. In the end I gave maS the dinosaurs, which he loves, and told him to play. Sorting them by colour was beyond him after that exceptionally strenuous conversation.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain too :)

DJ Kirkby said...

Ah poor kid..no wait a sec, perhaps it is really, really nice in his world of blank? Your working world on the other hand makes me feel jittery whenever I walk into N3S's classroom!

Ms Anonymous said...

DJ, it is obviously so much nicer in his world as he had no desire to leave it any time soon. I mean this in the least awful way, but the government is there for kids like this who grow up into being adults that can't function. He could be far worse off if he lived in a different country. He'll be fine.