It's a wonder what removing one student from a classroom can do to the class. One of our students created such a distraction that we honestly felt the class was learning Nothing. Part way through the week, he was removed and put into a smaller setting. When it happened, I couldn't help but feel down on myself for not being able to get a handle on the situation when he was in the room. Someday I'll be more prepared and equipped with a bag full of tricks, and I'll be able to keep control of my room. For now, he's doing great in his new setting and the teacher can relate to him better than we could. He's also getting more attention, which helps keep him from singing and yelling out in class like he did in our room. Our class is one less without him, but is becoming more focused, and we've been able to really start feeling like our students are learning.
I can feel the students starting to get used to expectations and routines. They are finally working quietly when we ask. I'm also getting to know these students and am already beginning to break through with some of the students with behavior issues.
One of our boys has been a mess since the beginning of the year. No one had any suggestions for us on what works or worked in the past, and his attitude has been horrible whenever we've attempted to address issues. The students work to earn daily points, with behavior and homework being factors in the amount of points they earn. Most days, either Ms. B or I talk to the students who we feel didn't earn all of their points. I usually address them in a calm, honest way, asking them how many points they think they earned. We've yet to have one of them tell us they earned all their points. They realize what they did wrong during the day and almost all of them will have a discussion about what it is they can improve on for the next day and what the teachers can do to help them make these improvements.
On Wednesday, when I called up this particular boy, we'll call him Art (he's a terrific artist), he explained to me how important it was for him to start behaving in class. He told me about his father's expectations for him and how his father told him if he didn't shape up, he wouldn't get a birthday in November or a Halloween costume. He went on to tell me how he knows what to do to be a good student and how hard it is sometimes because the other boys, his friends, make fun of him for behaving. As we discussed the importance of education and how he was only hurting his own chances of learning by misbehaving, he promised to make an improvement on his behavior choices. I asked him if I could use some key words to remind him of our agreement if I felt he was getting off-track with his behavior. I suggested "Birthday" and "Halloween" since those were important things he was working towards. Because I know his attitude when he's being confronted about an issue, I made him agree that if I nicely mentioned our key words, he couldn't use comebacks ("I don't care about my birthday or Halloween" or "Whatever, those things don't matter"). He agreed. Ms. B and I are so proud of him, because after my heart-to-heart with him, he came to school Thursday and Friday and was truly a star student.
Art received all of his points for Thursday and Friday, but because of the lack of points at the beginning of the week, he was unable to join us for our Friday game. He was heart broken to see his report from the beginning of the week and also fearful of what his parents would say. Ms. B promised to share his improvement to the family member who picked him up after school. She also worked out a deal with him for joining the after school sports team she coaches. He's been dying to join, but he wasn't allowed to because of his poor behavior choices these first few weeks. I really want him to be able to join the team, but it's out of my control. I think it could be another good motivation for him to make the right choices and do his personal best in school. Both Ms. B and I were so proud of the progress he made at the end of the week. We are hoping it sticks, at least most of the time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment