PEOPLE! I am going to lose my mind over all of the classroom interruptions that I am dealing with. Seriously. When I end up in the mental ward, people will talk about it in hushed whispers and knowing looks as they tilt their heads in sympathy. Someone will reluctantly say it out loud — Kristin lost her mind over all of the interruptions. Everyone will nod. They’ll feel relieved that they escaped my fate. But they will worry. Because if it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.
Could someone, please, for the love of Pete and all that is Peaceful, intercom my room instead of calling me???????????? When the phone rings, I have to get up (yes, get UP), leave my kids on the carpet and go clear across the room to the phone. CLEAR ACROSS THE ROOM. Believe you me, I have thought about rearranging my room based on where the phone is located. But the phone is located on the wall that has tile underneath it. Call me crazy (mental ward) but I like the kids to sit on carpet. And yes, I have tried moving the phone. It didn’t work. So there I go. CLEAR ACROSS THE ROOM. And 30 kids are left to their own devices. Here are any number of things my kids like to partake in — rock, paper, scissors, poking, pinching, shoving, playing beauty parlor, somersaulting, sleeping, talking, laughing at someone’s underwear peeking out from a waistband, shushing each other, sticking their tongues out at each other, threatening to tell on each other, etc. Pick one. Or all.
So I came up with a system. I’m one smart cookie.
If the phone rings, the Teacher’s Pet (I don’t have class jobs. I have one kid of the day and they’re the Teacher’s Pet) comes up to the front and does sight word flashcards with the kids on the carpet. The sight words are right there so this is a piece of cake.
However, I think we’re having a system breakdown and I need to call somebody. Except for my phone is always tied up SO I CAN’T.
Who’s calling? Hmmmm. Let’s see.
Any number of people. About any number of things. Which one do you think is the best reason for calling me in the middle of my HOLY MOLY, THOU SHALT NOT INTERRUPT, FIDELITY TO THE CORE, TWO AND A HALF HOUR LANGUAGE ARTS BLOCK?
1. Jack’s lunch is here.
2. Jill’s sharing item is here.
3. Little Bo Peep’s going home with her sheep today.
4. Humpty Dumpty is leaving early.
5. Goldilocks was in a scuffle and the principal would like to see her. Oops. Goldilocks isn’t in my class. Sorry about that.
6. Little Red Riding Hood’s library book is here.
7. Miss Muffet’s umbrella is here. (even though there is no sign of rain)
8. Do I know where my partner teacher is? She’s not answering her phone.
9. Never mind. Little Bo Peep lost her sheep and she should take the bus.
10. How many more ELD workbooks do I need? They just arrived.
Uh huh. Yep.
I am GOING TO LOSE MY MIND. And I told my principal this in the Leadership meeting. In those exact words. For real. She laughed. But I wasn’t kidding.
And THEN — we got letters to send home to the parents. These letters are very seriously worded. All about how we can’t interrupt teachers’ instructional minutes for this and that and the other SO STOP calling already!!!!!! And how we need to teach responsibility and we’re not going to TAKE IT ANYMORE! Well, something like that. You get the jist.
I almost couldn’t believe it. But it’s true. And I got intercommed today. Which means I just sat there in my chair and I didn’t have to get up. So my kids actually had to stay engaged in the lesson. Imagine that. AND AND AND I only got intercommed twice. This is a huge improvement.
So what’s it like at your school???? Do you get interrupted? I would love to know. I need some company in the mental ward when I end up in there, ya know?
I would go nuts!! Thank goodness we have a policy that we do not answer phones while kids are in the classroom. so if someone needs me immediately they can call the office and then I will get intercommed. Or, they can email me and I will get back to them. The kids still respond when the phone rings, but I remind them that whomever is calling will leave a message!!
I can totally relate!! My phone is clear across the room from my whole group area too and I hate it when the phone rings! And I love the ladies in our office but when they call me to ask me a question why does it seem like they cannot talk any slower and they just can't get the words out…I want to scream standing there while in the mean time kids are rolling on the floor and who know what else! I feel your pain!!!
What I Learned in Kindergarten
Got this idea from Heidi Butkus. When the phone rings, or some other interruption that absolutely cannot wait until after school (huge sigh here) have the kids play the "quiet game". Pick someone to be "it" and that person picks the quietest person to be "it" next. Of course there's no purpose to this game, but the kids love it anyway.
We don't have phones in our rooms and are not allowed to have our cellphones visible. Only and intercom. I have a deal with my secretary that I will check my mailbox every two hours which I can do because of where it is situated in the school. This way she knows that if something can wait until 10am or noon or 2pm, she sticks a note in my box and calls it good.
I would go nuts if I were you. But it does make for some funny blog posts.
Kimberly
1st in Maine
HAHA!! I love it! You sound just like me 🙂
I would go totally nuts too! I have actually started to ignore my phone because my caller ID doesn't work on it, and I can't talk to parents in the middle of class…so that's my excuse of why I never answer my phone – I didn't want to answer it in case it was a parent. lol.
HAHAHAH..you crack me up!!! Save me space in your crazy room cuz I'm right there with you…here it's either all or none…somedays it's quiet, usually too quiet and then the storm. Lots of phone calls and intercom interuptions!! It doesn't help that by the 3rd ring, I've lost my sunny disposition and answer the phone myself instead of my helper and sound like a psycho, crazy woman!!! Eeeesh!
4th Grade Frolics
I have a confession. I don't answer the phone much anymore. If they need me they will come to get me. When they do, I pretend like I ran to the phone, missed the call and it went to voicemail before I got it because I was so busy teaching. Kids yell out, "Mrs. Gillow, aren't you gonna get the phone?" I say, "Not now, I'm teaching." It's amazing how few times my phone rings now. 🙂
Kimberly
I'll be there with you! Between the numerous phone calls and our principal or office manager making announcements over the intercom for 5 minutes at a time, I'm going nuts! Somebody save me before I do something I'll regret! 🙂
LOL!! this is exactly how it is at my school. I did the same thing you did yesterday! I was tired of using up my precious work time to keep answering the phone so I ignored and just blamed it on the noisy children when they finally came to find me.LOVE your blog!! Thank you for sharing!!
Amen Sister!
From 2:00 on everyday, I just need to install a revolving door. It's RIDICULOUS. Phone call…all the kids shout "who's going home now?" Then we all have to say goodbye as if the world is ending and this is the last time we will ever see each other.
I will totally be joining you in the mental ward. I have quite the group of parents this year…at least they email. But my inbox is full most of the time, so I wonder how many more crazy emails I'm missing out on! 🙂
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Marcy @ http://busybeesandcupcakes.blogspot.com
We don't have phones or working intercoms… so my principal comes and interrupts my class to tell me the most ridiculous things. Like that we're collecting money for someone's mom's birthday gift. Really?? Tell me later!! And can you not clearly see that I am doing something right now?? It's good to know that I'm not alone!! 🙂
We don't have phones or working intercoms… so my principal comes and interrupts my class to tell me the most ridiculous things. Like that we're collecting money for someone's mom's birthday gift. Really?? Tell me later!! And can you not clearly see that I am doing something right now?? It's good to know that I'm not alone!! 🙂
We don't have phones just intercoms. I think it would drive me nuts too. Any interruption to the class just sets the kids off track and then you need to settle them down again.
Your words come at just the right time – ALWAYS. Your paparazzi post cracked the crud right out of me as I had just done a dive and ditch the day before…and now this. We don't have intercoms in my new school…well, we do – but they are on the phones and our secretaries don't know how to use them. So, we get calls ALL THE TIME. For the same silly reasons you mentioned. Yesterday our secretary called to let me know a parent was coming down "with something for Sabrina"…WHU???? Ummm, no – I'll send Sabrina down to the office. What was this whole hullabaloo about? Her water bottle…seriously, there was an hour left of school and Mommy wanted to bring Sabrina her water bottle. I ignore the ringing so often my kids will say now "She's ignoring the phone so she can teach if it's an emergency they will call back"…UGH.
So yes, I feel your pain…
Oh My Goodness! I feel your pain! Today I had a call to ask if I was okay getting a new student tomorrow. Then we went ahead and discussed the student's background. Thankful to hear it all and I was even more thrilled that my students were fine for the first time on the carpet, but less is more! I like the flash card idea. I will keep this in my mind!
I awarded you the I Heart your Blog Award:) Come check out the post for details:))
4th Grade Frolics
I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!! lol I love this post! haha We get calls all the time and it's so annoying.
1. B/c the calls are things that could be emailed.
2. All the kindergarten classrooms in our school have this obnoxious wall in the middle of the room… and guess where our phones are… BEHIND IT. So we would not only have to get up and walk across the room…. but also go behind the wall where we can't seen any of our students.
I'm about ready to talk to our principal about how bad the interruptions are getting .
Try having 2 phones, AND an intercom. Fortunately I don't get called too often. The one phone that parents call in on (after they've called the office and been transfered) doesn't even ring out loud so parents have no choice but to leave a message. The office will intercom down for things like a parent pick up, or intercom and ask "Can you pick up?" in which case, I use the SECOND phone that only calls classrooms. I've never tried answering their question with a no, so I'm not sure what would happen! 🙂
Creating & Teaching
My phone is on the other side of the room from our meeting area. If the phone rings and I'm unable to answer it, I just let it ring. If it's important enough they'll leave a message.
The office usually intercoms, but there are still tons of interruptions. I would almost prefer phone interruptions to the people just randomly walking into my room! I have at least 2-3 people a day walk into my room and interrupt my lesson to ask a question or have a conversation. It drives me nuts! And of course as I'm trying to focus on them and have a meaningful conversation, my kids seem to go INSANE and suddenly decide it's a good time to get out of their seats and run around and begin yelling. Oye!
This is awesome. You crack me up! This happens to me all the time!!! Thanks for sharing!!
I feel your pain.
Our extremely long-winded administrative assistant just loves to get on the intercom at any given moment of the day to make "really" important {not "really" at all} announcements. My personal favorite is to announce there is no recess due to lightning strikes in the area. I'd understand it if it was overcast, stormy, and thundering, but it NEVER is! It is usually sunny without a cloud in sight!! It is a definite mood killer! After the never-ending announcement of no recess {couldn't they have come up with a code-word for no recess!} she'll inform us that she will make an "All-Clear" announcement when the weather passes. That would be great if she ever made that "All-Clear" announcement, but she doesn't. We've only had recess once this week and once last week. I'm going to lose my mind!!
That is hillarious! ….totally can relate 100%!! :-)Robin
Interruptions drove me crazy at my old building. Thank goodness I am now at a school with no phones, intercom or administrators that feel anything they have to say is so essential it cannot wait until a break.
The worst part at my old building was the teacher who arrived every day, and I do mean every day, during the 15 minutes that the children were floating into the rooms. Therefore she had no prep time before school and would call my room after the bell asking if I could send a kid down with a copy of xxx so she could run all of her children to the library to make copies or to discuss the plans for how we were going to modify that math lesson we talked about last week.
The worst part of it was that she didn't even cut straight to the chase she would greet me and ask how I was doing and then try to tell me about her morning and then finally get to what she needed. You are a teacher!!! You should understand how this is rude, intrusive and INSANE!!!
I totally understand the feeling. My classroom is constantly interrupted by a ringing phone or intercom. Plus I have so many students who are being pulled out this year for different programs (speech, interventions, etc.) that I feel like I need a revolving door and someone has to get up to open the door for each of these knocks because the door must be locked for safety. It is CrAzY!!
I can relate! I actually took the school phone and replaced it with a cordless phone.. this way, i don't have to leave my kiddos! Works great and just put it back on the charger before I go home for the night.