Next week is my last week with the 2nd grade class. I am looking forward to the end; I still haven't decided whether they will have a party or not. If all of the students are present for STAR testing next week, they will be able to get a make-your-own-sundae party because of the principal. Will that be enough for them? It is difficult to get parents to contribute healthy food for children; I don't think the children would be craving healthy food either. Let's see whose behavior improves by the end of next week.
Some students have a problem with "impulse control." But there are others who are quiet and obedient, at least in the classroom. I am usually surprised to hear from them that they misbehave at home, or get in trouble, but it usually involves fights or arguments with siblings. I learned yesterday that one of the students goes to St. Maria Goretti; so she has probably been baptized. Still... watching how the students behave outside the classroom during recess, when they are with other students, can be an eye-opener.
Being dominated by emotions and "selfishness," the effects of original sin? I wonder if there is anything written by a great spiritual writer on the raising of children, something that talks about leading them to virtue. I remember Scepter having some titles that were interesting, but I haven't had a chance to take a look at them. While even baptized children (like my niece)will have the virtue of charity infused into them (plus the associated gifts of the Holy Spirit), they need to learn how to act in accord with it, and that takes time since reason needs to develop.
I suppose then that teachers' pets who are really good, or are on the path to virtue, will not appear until after 4th grade or so.
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