Sleeping Beauty
The hours might be early for me, but they are late at night for those little guys across the world. In other words, sometimes we are both fighting sleep! Ha! I was reviewing my lesson one night for the next morning and noticed that I had a student named Earl. I checked out the feedback that previous teachers had given about him and, not gonna lie, I was a little scared! He received some negative behavioral feedback from other teachers and many of them said he is super distracted/high energy and doesn't like to participate.
So the next morning, I woke up and geared up for what I thought would be a super difficult lesson! I logged on a couple minutes early, but waited until it was time to start to turn my camera on. Earl's camera was already on. I could see that he was in his cute jammies already and was resting his head on the desk, coming in and out of sleep. I think his mom kept trying to wake him up. I was pretty sure that this lesson was later for him than most of his lessons and it seemed like it HAD to be past his bedtime already.
When it was time to start, I turned on my camera and said, "Hello Earl!" His mom put his headphones on him and walked away while he had his class. I got a few sentences out of him and some one-word answers and noticed his head start to bob. I tried EVERYTHING I could think of to keep him awake. I tried to be super upbeat and entertaining. I used props. I used puppets. I used voices. I used faces. I used TPR (total physical response, or movement). NOTHING. He was completely out. With his headphones on. I tried to wake him up: "Earl! Earl! Wake up, Earl! Can you hear me, Earl?" His mom or grandma was walking around in the kitchen behind him and would sporadically look over to make sure everything was going okay. BUT, she couldn't see that his eyes were closed from behind and couldn't hear me trying to wake him up through his headphones. Then it got worse and his whole body started to sway in his chair. "Oh no, Earl! Wake up, Earl! Wake up!" He. Fell. Out. Of. His. Chair. So sad and so funny at the same time. I heard a thump and them (*sob*)...tears! Poor guy was just so tired! That's when Mom FINALLY came to the rescue, unplugged his headphones, and sat with him for the rest of the lesson. I felt so bad for Earl having to finish the lesson while he was crying, but he eventually started to feel better and I got a little funny teaching moment out of it.
Sleep tight, Earl!
So the next morning, I woke up and geared up for what I thought would be a super difficult lesson! I logged on a couple minutes early, but waited until it was time to start to turn my camera on. Earl's camera was already on. I could see that he was in his cute jammies already and was resting his head on the desk, coming in and out of sleep. I think his mom kept trying to wake him up. I was pretty sure that this lesson was later for him than most of his lessons and it seemed like it HAD to be past his bedtime already.
When it was time to start, I turned on my camera and said, "Hello Earl!" His mom put his headphones on him and walked away while he had his class. I got a few sentences out of him and some one-word answers and noticed his head start to bob. I tried EVERYTHING I could think of to keep him awake. I tried to be super upbeat and entertaining. I used props. I used puppets. I used voices. I used faces. I used TPR (total physical response, or movement). NOTHING. He was completely out. With his headphones on. I tried to wake him up: "Earl! Earl! Wake up, Earl! Can you hear me, Earl?" His mom or grandma was walking around in the kitchen behind him and would sporadically look over to make sure everything was going okay. BUT, she couldn't see that his eyes were closed from behind and couldn't hear me trying to wake him up through his headphones. Then it got worse and his whole body started to sway in his chair. "Oh no, Earl! Wake up, Earl! Wake up!" He. Fell. Out. Of. His. Chair. So sad and so funny at the same time. I heard a thump and them (*sob*)...tears! Poor guy was just so tired! That's when Mom FINALLY came to the rescue, unplugged his headphones, and sat with him for the rest of the lesson. I felt so bad for Earl having to finish the lesson while he was crying, but he eventually started to feel better and I got a little funny teaching moment out of it.
Sleep tight, Earl!
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