New hope

So this last week was a little bit crazy. I encountered a most infuriating situation at work. I teach the little guys, two and a half through three (when they turn four they move up) but lately I've had to take on a five year old who can't control himself. Why he became my student I have no idea but I can't argue, I'm not the boss. He disrupts my class and picks on the smaller children constantly. Well on Thursday, I sat him in time out for running around the classroom, yelling and playing during the learning activity. I was instructed by my boss that I was to "let him play. You won't get anywhere by putting him in time out so you should just give him what he wants so you can go on with the rest of your class."! I was speechless! How can you reward this five year old child for bad behavior and expect him to learn anything?! You're teaching this poor kid that throwing a fit gets you what you want and you don't have to behave well to be rewarded. Is that really the message we want to teach? Not only this but now I have 9 other three and four year old's asking why they can't play too. How do I explain to them that he only gets to play because he was bad? I can't understand this logic at all and I don't agree with it either. It's ridiculous.

This week we also got a new student, he is 4 and Vietnamese and VERY cute. He's not in my class but has bonded well with me so I get to spend a lot of time with him. He speaks no English so we communicate through pointing, gesturing and nodding or shaking of the head. He is learning to recognize words and gets excited when he does. He loves to learn and does a victory lap around the room when he finally understands something. He is learning so quickly and it's so amazing to watch him. I cannot wait to hear his first English word. I have a hunch it will be "truck"! He loves to play with trucks. He gives me new hope for the year.