Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I've been doing much more handwritten journaling than blog entries recently...I'm not sure why. It has been a bit difficult for me to come up with stuff to write about - I don't even have deer seen on my new bus route to mention.

Yesterday afternoon I drove another cross country meet for Son1's team. Actually this was another joint one where both the high school and middle school teams went to the same place. That makes for a fairly full bus but behavior has been much better this year. It's really been a pleasure driving them - especially the high school. The high school runs a 5K for each race. Son1 ran well - his time was 22:45 - not his best time but most definitely not his worst time. Except for this meet, he's improved his times in all the meets he's run in. 3 meets ago he ran the distance in 23 minutes flat. Last Saturday he ran the distance in 21:20 - so far that's been his absolute fastest. I know he was somewhat disappointed with his time last night but under the circumstances of heavy humid air followed by a thunderstorm he did well. Unfortunately one of the middle school students - who he's had issues with in the past - made fun of his time. That makes it difficult for him. I struggle with knowing what to do to help him deal with it - if I need to step in myself to say something or what. This student is younger than him and likely - even though he is on the middle school cross country team - could not keep up with Son1 in a 5K race. This student is also pretty much a bully and very few people seem to stand up to him.

On a different note, 2 more students have been transferred off my school bus to a special needs bus. This morning I took a conduct report into the office to speak with the principal about it - the response was "why isn't this student on a special needs bus?" I think it will be better for this particular student - less people to cause him to get agitated. However I do struggle with feeling like a failure at the moment - in the past I've generally always gained control of the students on the bus without having them transferred off.

I'd better close for now - need to go start dinner I guess.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well as you know there are always going to be those who try to make themselves feel stronger by trying to bring down others. The best thing you can do at this point is to tell D not to let it get to him. (of course we both know this won't work, so tell him to use the pain to push him to do his best.) If he can turn that around to his advantage, it will help him to coupe in further events. As for the bus, it sounds like the administration is more willing to just move a student then try to fix the probelms, I know that you are a better driver than that. Give the student the opertunity to prove he needs to be moved rather than just pawning him off on someone else. you are a better person than that. Good luck and i will look forward to seeing how things work out.

From your friend from Iraq...

Anonymous said...

D will find his inner strength to stand up to the bully, Like I am trying to learn to do with my bully. As for the bus, you are a great driver, and a wonderful person, don't let transfering off this student get to you. It's for the better, plus, it takes some pressure off of you. Let someone else handle this child, and you can just try to have fun with the route you have. Plus, with this kid off, you can get home a few minutes earlier. Tell everyone I said Hi(D, J, and B), and have a good day.

Love, your daughter =)

Gina said...

don't worry, everything will turn out alright. Have faith in God, and it will work out fine.