F-#-@-K...I've heard this word way too much this week!

My week started with a child and mother confronting me in the hall about why "I" had her child suspended. I explained that the week before her child had said to me, "F@#$ YOU." Her son, of course, denied it. I explained that all I did was write the referral to the office and they decided the punishment, not me.

Later in the week, a different child, in the same class, called me a "F$%^!*@-WHORE" (count the letters)! He has been diagnosed as ED (emotionally disturbed) and with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). After dealing with DAILY outbursts from this child, for the past 5 weeks, (....going home feeling like a failure and ready to cry....) I told the lead special education teacher that I had had enough. If this child was not moved from my room, I would leave the school before I would deal with him again. I don't have the training to deal with him and I am not doing him any justice. She agreed that this was not working out and that he would be moved.

Then the end of the week I decided I needed a change so I swapped my room around. We went from this....

....to this.

I changed the entire direction that the desks are pointing.

This.....

....became.....

...this.

This corner.....

....now....

...looks like this.

Then the last corner....

......looks like...

....this.

If nothing else, it (swapping the room around or swapping where they sit), will keep the kids on their toes. They'll never know what to expect from day to day. Keep 'em guessing!