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So I'm feeling like the more tired I get, the harder it is to control my students. Every day I wake up feeling more and more tired than the day before. And I feel like I have really been struggling with classroom management. It's not like my classes are terrible. I mean, really the only thing they are doing wrong is talking. All. The. Time. It's not everybody. But it's enough to drive me insane. I mean, completely and totally nuts. I tell one person to stop talking, another one starts, I tell them to stop, someone lays down, I tell them to sit up, someone tips back their chair... It's like a never ending cycle of "don't do this", "stop doing that" .... I tell ya, it's exhausting!

Karen came to observe on Thursday, and I gotta say that I really don't think it went that well. I thought she was going to get to see a great lesson, one that worked well with the other classes... Well of course it just tanked in the class that she observed. I mean, of course, why wouldn't it? Kids were talking out, Student X was rolling around the floor and getting stuck under stools. (Yes. He got stuck. Under a stool. Was he really stuck? Probably not. But that's not even the point). By the end of the class I was so flustered and nervous, I just wanted to go home to bed. 

But I feel like it really helped. Having that class go so bad, and having it be the one time that Karen happened to be here, really helped me learn a lot. Karen and Delynda had some good suggestions.. And I feel like since then the classes have been going better. Now, that's not to say that the kids are completely silent, hands folded, sitting still as can be.. But I have gotten through the things I have needed to with little interruption, and the students seem to be getting more out of the classes. 

Hopefully this can continue through the end of school. Hopefully I can maintain an organized class, even if it is organized chaos. As long as I can stay cool, calm, and collected, I'll be happy. And of course, as long as by the end of the day I can say I ran class today, instead of my classes running me. I can do it. 

I think I can... I think I can... I know I can.