I was sitting behind a wailing kindergarten child who threw chairs, ran out of class, reached for a broom to swing, pounded and kicked a door, pulled at my clothes, punched and hit me, booted me in my shins, and kicked the plants along the edge of the building until their leaves could no longer hold on and flew only to become litter on the sidewalk.
He finally calmed his body and slumped in a chair in anticipation of his father arriving and his sadness, anger, and frustration were evident in his soulful cry. I just sat behind him as he continued to express his emotions for a full 10 minutes.
I began thinking deeply and reflecting on the situation and looked up. The fog was rolling in.
Fog seems mystical, eerie, and filled with the unknown to me. It was aligned with my thoughts of bewilderment and hampered vision. What was this child trying to tell me? How can I help him?
We were suspended like droplets which hung in the atmosphere. A moment to readjust our thinking, our bodies, and our actions.
The role of a school leader is complex and I believe that the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. A prominent area for me right now is the area of challenging student behavior.
My current box of strategies are as useless as lighting a candle to make my way through the thick cloud. Perhaps it is the same for my child. We will need to learn together.
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