Mid morning melt down
Just had to share my little melt down with you - thought you'd appreciate it...
I had a little treat on the 3rd period students' desks today when they came in - a comic strip that had one of our vocab words in it (I know... corny...!) and a piece of candy. I had a piece of sugar free gum at the one seat because one of my students is a diabetic. When I walked in the room from hall duty, I noticed that someone had taken his piece of gum and replaced it with a piece of candy. Luckily the student with diabetes wasn't there yet, so it wasn't really a big deal to him, but I was so disgusted with his fellow students!!! I said to the kids "How can you be so rude and inconsiderate?? I had gum there for a reason" - and they all just looked at me with blank faces and a few guilty faces. Ugh... the kids were doing group work, so I could kind of sneak to the back to collect myself, but I was so livid... I know i need to keep this in perspective and look at the situation more objectively, but instead I took it as a personal cut.
The student with diabetes eats whatever he wants, and the kids know this and see this all the time, but I just couldn't give him candy knowing that he's diabetic... I know I would appreciate it if someone remembered that I was diabetic and offered me gum instead... ugh...
I had to step outside because I started to cry and didn't want to make a scene, but I"m sure I did anyway!!!
I realize and accept that everyone manages their diabetes differently... I guess it just really upset me because I thought the kids were being really selfish and cruel... in reality, they probably didn't think a thing of it, but it really, really got to me... it was one of those moments when I loathe diabetes and the monster it makes out of me.....
I had a little treat on the 3rd period students' desks today when they came in - a comic strip that had one of our vocab words in it (I know... corny...!) and a piece of candy. I had a piece of sugar free gum at the one seat because one of my students is a diabetic. When I walked in the room from hall duty, I noticed that someone had taken his piece of gum and replaced it with a piece of candy. Luckily the student with diabetes wasn't there yet, so it wasn't really a big deal to him, but I was so disgusted with his fellow students!!! I said to the kids "How can you be so rude and inconsiderate?? I had gum there for a reason" - and they all just looked at me with blank faces and a few guilty faces. Ugh... the kids were doing group work, so I could kind of sneak to the back to collect myself, but I was so livid... I know i need to keep this in perspective and look at the situation more objectively, but instead I took it as a personal cut.
The student with diabetes eats whatever he wants, and the kids know this and see this all the time, but I just couldn't give him candy knowing that he's diabetic... I know I would appreciate it if someone remembered that I was diabetic and offered me gum instead... ugh...
I had to step outside because I started to cry and didn't want to make a scene, but I"m sure I did anyway!!!
I realize and accept that everyone manages their diabetes differently... I guess it just really upset me because I thought the kids were being really selfish and cruel... in reality, they probably didn't think a thing of it, but it really, really got to me... it was one of those moments when I loathe diabetes and the monster it makes out of me.....
posted by LaLa at 11:16 AM
3 Comments:
LaLa--
I admire your compassion for this D child. It was very considerate of you to bring a special treat for that student.
Are you sure this was a deliberate attempt to sabotage the D student or maybe someone just wanted a piece of gum instead of the candy and made a swap. You're obviously the teacher and know the heart of your students. Most people (especially kids) are clueless that we should be watching every morsel that goes into our oral cavity. Just a thought...
You sound like an awesome teacher!
Keith,
Thank you for your response to my post! I don't think this was a deliberately cruel act by his fellow students, but I think it was really inconsiderate, and the kids just didn't think about it - they were just thinking about themselves at the time. I appreciate your feedback though - it helps to hear from someone who can be objective!!! I definitely was too emotional to be objective yesterday haha...
Take care
La La
Ellen,
Thank you for your insights on the situation. You make a very good point - why couldn't he have a piece of candy??? Now that I've calmed down, I can see I overreacted about the whole thing and should have talked with the student earlier in the year about things like that. On Friday I played a vocabulary bingo game and used the Necco Conversation hearts as game pieces. The student bolused and enjoyed the candy along with his classmates... *sigh*.... and the teacher now becomes the student... haha... At any rate, I appreciated your comments and your perspective on the situation :)
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