Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child

In 1969 Richie Havens opened the Woodstock music festival in upstate New York with a song called Freedom.  The lyrics included the line sometimes I feel like a motherless child a long way from home.  When I came up with the title of this post I knew I wanted to use these lyrics but I could not recall who sang the song so I did a google search and I learned two things about these lyrics.  The lyrics go back to the days of slavery and many African American artists have used these lyrics in their songs and Richie Havens was the name of the artist I couldn't recall.

I chose these lyrics because they summarized how I felt on the last day of school before spring break.  So how did I feel?  I can tell you it was not good because that would describe how the food I ate tastes so I will say sad, disappointed, agitated, frustrated and at a total loss on how I can help the scholars in my class cope with their emotional disabilities.       

The day was supposed to be a fun day.  The school lunch menu was a picnic theme with box lunches.  BaseG added to the fun by      buying pizza and drinks and IvyL and Phd? Sparty brought cookies.     
Unfortunately what was supposed to be fun was not fun, it was a      mess.  Floss got upset with Yo over the simple task of hooking two    paper clips together.  Yo in his typical fashion started fishing to     further agitate Floss which resulted in Floss standing and angrily     confronting Yo.  Straw as he has in the past decided to help himself to other scholars food when they weren't looking.  His target was   The Collector's box lunch first by taking his drink and a bit later his cookie.  The Collector is now upset and is walking around the room knocking over chairs.  EM insisted on interrupting BaseG who was    speaking to another scholar.  When BaseG asked him to not   interrupt and wait he got upset and angrily threw his container of   chocolate milk against the wall.  The container broke open and    there was chocolate milk running down the wall and all over the   
floor.  This was supposed to be a fun day and now you know what I see regularly from my view at the back of the room.    

If Phd? Sparty or IvyL asked me how I'm feeling right at this very   instant I would say angry.  Angry because I know the school has a    great leader in the Big Boss.  Angry because I know I work with a    great support group that includes Phd? Sparty, IvyL, Gee and Oreo   who will do anything to help these scholars.  Angry because even  with all this ongoing chaos in the classroom BaseG has managed to  raise the test scores of these scholars.  Angry because if we can't  get a handle on how to help these scholars control their anger one    of them will have gone on to a better place or be incarcerated by  the time he graduates from high school.

That's it.  I need a time out.