Warning… HUGE RANT ahead. Read if you dare.
My middle schoolers and I are about to have a “Come to Jesus” meeting come Monday or Tuesday, whenever I get my voice back. I’m sick of them acting like jackasses that have never rode the bus before. I keep a pretty orderly bus, but invariably I’m always shouting at them to shut up. I thought that since today was Halloween, that I’d give them the benefit of the doubt and turn up the radio and have a rockin’ party on the bus. I thought I’d be nice and give out candy to each student as they got off the bus. Instead I ended up shouting at them the first 3 minutes into the ride because they couldn’t take a treat with respect. Having the radio on is a privilege on my bus.
I’m toying with several assigned seat ideas. Some of which include putting my little ones in some of the further back seats and seating my middle school up front. Additionally, perhaps sticking my little ones one to a seat and then having my middle schoolers fill in the seats. The issue I’m having now is that some of them wait to get on the bus till the last minute so they can get the back part of the bus. But then they act up when they get there. The bus ride is only 10 friggin minutes!!!!! They can’t seem to shut up and behave for 10 minutes!!! ARGHHHH.
One kid THREW candy AT my bus AFTER he got off. JACKASS!
It’s the last time I give a treat to any one of them for a VERY long time. I am very frustrated. But by the end of this weekend I WILL have a game plan. Mark my words. They are about to hate riding my bus.
Contemplating their demise,
The Bus Driver
6 comments:
Thank you so much for your blog. Am a new schoolbus driver and the middleschoolers have given me more than one sleepless night. Today they were so loud I could barely hear the ambulance siren coming down the road. Maybe the sugar/candy added to their usual loudness/mayhem....but anyway, thanks for your blog, I'm not alone!!!! :)
yay new driver.. welcome to the mayhem and madness that is driving a school bus!
aw...I'm sorry you had such a rough day. That sucks. I like the idea of pairing the little ones up with the big ones. I wouldn't be comfortable leaving all the little ones in the back of the bus, and even if the big ones were closer to the front, they would still be sitting together which = noise!! If you mix the big and little, they won't have much to talk about will they? I hope it all works out for you.
yeah i probably wont be leaving my little ones in the back of the bus, but i have a handful of "good" little ones and a small handful of "good" middle schoolers... so, i'll probably pair them up and stick them in the back. I know i hated assigned seats as a kid, but i see the usefulness of them now. Especially with misbehaving kids.
Maybe you can lure the big kids into the new seating arrangement by going with the angle that they will be "mentoring" the little ones. Maybe they could even read them a book or something? Although, I suppose the ones that are really out of control (behavior-wise) won't be interested in that idea, huh? I'm trying to think of a way for you to present it and get the least amount of resistance. Then again, part of me feels like they should just be told, straight out, you screwed up, and this is the consequence. But, I'm afraid the little ones would have to pay the price of some misdirected anger. Geez, maybe I should just mind my own business and let you handle it! ;-)
haha Chitown.. thanks for the suggestions, but i think your last one is probably whats going to have to happen. The gloves are off, the kids will be told bluntly they messed up and they will have to pay the consequence. My "good" little ones will sit in the back. as well as the few "good" middle schoolers. My most problematic ones will need to sit up front. with the least problematic near the middle of the bus.
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