Well, just got a call from my Co-teacher she is now sick (I actually think I gave it to her, woops!) and will not be coming in tomorrow. I am not nervous. It is my teaching day tomorrow and we had both planned the day, however, I am a little concerned about the reaction that we are going to get from our boys.
It was my management day on Friday, and granted that Fridays are short days, I have never ended any teaching day this school year with such high spirits. Both of our boys, Doug and Joe, have been removed from the community. They are still in the classroom, but they are not allowed to sit at the rug with the rest of the students or take part in many of the classroom activities. They each now have their own desks and own squares surrounding those desks. If they want to get a teacher's attention they must remain in their spot and raise their hand. If they leave their spot they do not get a sticker for that period of time. The boys have work that they need to complete and are also not having recess or eating lunch with the rest of their classmates. They need to earn their way back into the community by setting a goal each day and trying to keep that goal in order to earn their way back into the classroom community.
Friday was actually a really big day for both me and my co -teacher. The boys didn't have any major meltdowns (Joe threw himself on the floor when I told him that he could not go to recess but I just picked him up and started walking him down to the office. He then very meekly told me that he could walk. I think I embarrassed him.)
Although I feel bad for excluding the boys from the community. They were not listening or paying attention or learning when they were part of the community and were making it even more difficult for other student to learn I think that right now it is the best place for everyone.
I just hope that all of what worked on Friday works tomorrow.
Keeping my fingers crossed...
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Rays of Sunlight...
I was reading through my blog posts and I realized all my posts are painting this to be a horrible year, but I need to let you know that I am really enjoying myself. I have AMAZING kids, they are wonderful they do their best- I feel, that even though we have yet to talk about the behavior issues in our classroom, they know what is going on and really try their best to help me and my co-teacher out. When it is my teaching day, I enjoy myself so much! I love seeing the things the kids come up with and I enjoy planning with my co-teacher and the other teachers- to make sure we are creating the best year for our kids. Tomorrow is my teaching day, yay!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Oh, If I only had a camera...
I was talking to my friend Darek before he left for France (yes, I am super sad and missing his companionship) and he told me, you have to laugh about your children's antics, otherwise you are going to be upset all the time and not enjoy what you are doing. (Of course he had to be right about that piece of wisdome, right?)
So, after a hard day, I am starting to see the humor in today's day. Our boys were in fine form today. Doug and Joe have proven themselves to be really bad influences on one boy whome I will call Max. Max has decided in recent days to act like Doug and Joe, not to follow direction, to ignore the lessons that we are teaching and basically become another Doug and Joe because he likes the attention that it gets him. We have contacted his mother and she cannot believe that he is behaving this way (she believes that what we are telling her is true) and she does not know what to do or why he is behaving the way that he is.
Well any ways- Today was my teaching day ( my co teacher and I have decided to switch off days just to maintain our sanity with dealing with our boys) and Max was not following directions and punched another child. My coteacher called Max's mom, and while she was on the phone (I was on the rug teaching the kids) I looked over and see that Doug has taken his leveled book zip lock bag and placed it COMPLETELY over his head. Yes, you read that correctly. He did it because Max was getting too much attention.
So my co teacher takes him off to the office and I am left with 23 children on the rug, and two boys, Max and Joe, refusing to sit on the rug and just roaming the classroom. I was not about to fight this battle so I continued with the read aloud. Just at the middle of the read aloud, with no sight of my co teacher or Doug, the special ed teacher comes in with Omar (our autistic boy) who is refusing to come into the classroom. She has other students waiting for her so she leaves him in the door way. He is not moving so I leave him there for a little bit (my back is to the door) and next time I check on him he is GONE! Of couse I freak out and jump out of my seat in the middle of a comment from one of my kids. The kids are looking around wondering what is going on, and I belatedly tell them, as I reach Omar who is just to the right of the doorway against the wall, for them to talk with a partner about connections. I spend 10 minutes trying to coax Omar into the classroom, but I seem to be taking steps back and not forward, because he is starting to go up the stairs, absolutely refusing to go back into the classroom. The special ed teacher comes by and tells me it is OK to basically drag him into the classroom. Poor little guy, he was so upset, but jeez, little first grade boys are STRONG!
The day calmed down a bit after this crazy morning, but not by much. I think that the only reason I am not completely upset is because, we actually got some teaching done, tomorrow is another day, and soon, we will get an aid for Omar, which will be a BIG help.
So, after a hard day, I am starting to see the humor in today's day. Our boys were in fine form today. Doug and Joe have proven themselves to be really bad influences on one boy whome I will call Max. Max has decided in recent days to act like Doug and Joe, not to follow direction, to ignore the lessons that we are teaching and basically become another Doug and Joe because he likes the attention that it gets him. We have contacted his mother and she cannot believe that he is behaving this way (she believes that what we are telling her is true) and she does not know what to do or why he is behaving the way that he is.
Well any ways- Today was my teaching day ( my co teacher and I have decided to switch off days just to maintain our sanity with dealing with our boys) and Max was not following directions and punched another child. My coteacher called Max's mom, and while she was on the phone (I was on the rug teaching the kids) I looked over and see that Doug has taken his leveled book zip lock bag and placed it COMPLETELY over his head. Yes, you read that correctly. He did it because Max was getting too much attention.
So my co teacher takes him off to the office and I am left with 23 children on the rug, and two boys, Max and Joe, refusing to sit on the rug and just roaming the classroom. I was not about to fight this battle so I continued with the read aloud. Just at the middle of the read aloud, with no sight of my co teacher or Doug, the special ed teacher comes in with Omar (our autistic boy) who is refusing to come into the classroom. She has other students waiting for her so she leaves him in the door way. He is not moving so I leave him there for a little bit (my back is to the door) and next time I check on him he is GONE! Of couse I freak out and jump out of my seat in the middle of a comment from one of my kids. The kids are looking around wondering what is going on, and I belatedly tell them, as I reach Omar who is just to the right of the doorway against the wall, for them to talk with a partner about connections. I spend 10 minutes trying to coax Omar into the classroom, but I seem to be taking steps back and not forward, because he is starting to go up the stairs, absolutely refusing to go back into the classroom. The special ed teacher comes by and tells me it is OK to basically drag him into the classroom. Poor little guy, he was so upset, but jeez, little first grade boys are STRONG!
The day calmed down a bit after this crazy morning, but not by much. I think that the only reason I am not completely upset is because, we actually got some teaching done, tomorrow is another day, and soon, we will get an aid for Omar, which will be a BIG help.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
I'm going to cry...
It's during prep time right now and the kids are at gym, but I just had an incident with Joe. We were picking up the kids from lunch and Joe was not following directions to get in line. When he finally decided to get in line he thought it would be a good idea to push his way into a spot in line and then proceed to kick at the children who decided to tell on him. I pulled him out of the line where he proceeded to struggle against me as hard as he could. I could tell he was angry and I was concerned about what he was going to do to himself or the other children. I continued to hold on to him trying to get him into the office where he could sit down and cool off, but he was holding on to the doorways refusing to let go. I did not want to pull him and our engineer walked by and decided to take pity on me and help me get him into the office. It probably looked comedic now that I think of it, two fully grown adults struggling to get a 6 year old into the office while he holds on to everything he possibly can with surprising amount of strenght. I'm so tired, I'm frustrated and I miss my mom.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Week 2 Day 2- A little better- a LOT exhausted :/
Thank goodness for Mentor Teachers...
Especially if they had your kids last year! This morning I meet with my mentor teacher who had Doug last year for Kindergarten. She let me vent and then reminded me of all the things I had used last year with my other little friend. She also suggested things to try, like checking in with Doug every 5 minutes, to see how things are going and if he is keeping his goal (which currently is staying in his spot) after the lesson give him 3 minutes to write, or color if he accomplished his goal.
I tried this today and while this worked, he was not perfect, but he kept his hands to himself and stayed in his spot at least 75% of the time. This was a great improvement on his behavior. I just wonder if this is sustainable (having a teacher constantly check in on him every 5 minutes). I was exhausted after the morning and was not as consistent with the constant check ins after lunch and gym.
I also wonder if this is fair to all the other children in the classroom. I was so completely focused on this one child while my co-teacher dealt with the rest of the class. I really don't want miss out on working with the rest of my students but I wonder if we will ever be able to strike a really good balance with management and not feeling guilty we are not paying the amount of attention that is due to my other students.
Especially if they had your kids last year! This morning I meet with my mentor teacher who had Doug last year for Kindergarten. She let me vent and then reminded me of all the things I had used last year with my other little friend. She also suggested things to try, like checking in with Doug every 5 minutes, to see how things are going and if he is keeping his goal (which currently is staying in his spot) after the lesson give him 3 minutes to write, or color if he accomplished his goal.
I tried this today and while this worked, he was not perfect, but he kept his hands to himself and stayed in his spot at least 75% of the time. This was a great improvement on his behavior. I just wonder if this is sustainable (having a teacher constantly check in on him every 5 minutes). I was exhausted after the morning and was not as consistent with the constant check ins after lunch and gym.
I also wonder if this is fair to all the other children in the classroom. I was so completely focused on this one child while my co-teacher dealt with the rest of the class. I really don't want miss out on working with the rest of my students but I wonder if we will ever be able to strike a really good balance with management and not feeling guilty we are not paying the amount of attention that is due to my other students.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Week 2 Day 1- UGH!
The only thing that I can say is THANK YOU GOD FOR CO-TEACHING!
It completely amazes me how it is on the shoulders of one child if I have a good or bad day. Doug had a bad morning. He slapped a girl who was trying to get him to get out of her space. I told him that he needed to go to his seat, he was no longer a welcomed member of our community. He refused to go, I picked him up and moved him to the other side of the classroom. He refused to sit in his seat and went to the door. He was playing with the door knob and I let him know that if he opened the door he would go down to the office with me and call and explain to his mother why he opened the door to the classroom and why he was not on the rug in the first place.
When we were going to gym later he could not keep his hands to himself he was talking in the hallway when we have made our expectations clear that there is to be no talking in the hallways and knowing that he needs to keep his hands to himself. I told him that because he could not keep his hands to himself he needed to walk with a teacher. He kept pulling his hand trying to not have me keep holding his hand. I told him that I would not let him go and that he needed to follow directions. I would not let his hand go so he decided to go limp. I told him that because he was not following directions he needed to go to the office with me so we can call his mom. He then decided to make himself heavy so I would let him go. I was so frustrated at this time I told him that when we went down to the office he was going to explain to his mother what had happen. He then started saying that he would behave that he did not want to go to the office, that he would follow directions, I refused because as I pointed out he was not following directions and was holding on to the railing so that I would not be able to take him to the office.
Of course at that point the principal passes by and tells him by the next time she passes by, she wants him to be in the office. Not that I am afraid of the principal, she is great, I just could not help but think, she probably thinks I am a horrible teacher because I cannot control this boy. But he made it to the office, EVENTUALLY. and the rest of the day somewhat turned around, but it still did not erase the morning from my mind.
At the end of the day my co teacher talked to his mom, and let her know what we have established in the the classroom (his own desk to sit at because he cannot sit still at the rug without bothering anyone) and our expectations for him to keep his hands to himself. I hope that this conversation with mom makes a difference.
And to top it all off ... Omar had a bad day. The SPED teacher said that he has a tough time with transitions and boy did we see this today. He refused to go to the bathroom and then refused to go to recess and lunch. We were most concerned about him not eating lunch (we eat at 11:25 and the kids stay till 3:50) and we spent the better half of an hour trying to coax him to go and get lunch. I do not actually know what happened but I do know that they called his mother to come help the Special Ed. Teacher with him.
Any ideas to try with either of these friends, I am all open!
It completely amazes me how it is on the shoulders of one child if I have a good or bad day. Doug had a bad morning. He slapped a girl who was trying to get him to get out of her space. I told him that he needed to go to his seat, he was no longer a welcomed member of our community. He refused to go, I picked him up and moved him to the other side of the classroom. He refused to sit in his seat and went to the door. He was playing with the door knob and I let him know that if he opened the door he would go down to the office with me and call and explain to his mother why he opened the door to the classroom and why he was not on the rug in the first place.
When we were going to gym later he could not keep his hands to himself he was talking in the hallway when we have made our expectations clear that there is to be no talking in the hallways and knowing that he needs to keep his hands to himself. I told him that because he could not keep his hands to himself he needed to walk with a teacher. He kept pulling his hand trying to not have me keep holding his hand. I told him that I would not let him go and that he needed to follow directions. I would not let his hand go so he decided to go limp. I told him that because he was not following directions he needed to go to the office with me so we can call his mom. He then decided to make himself heavy so I would let him go. I was so frustrated at this time I told him that when we went down to the office he was going to explain to his mother what had happen. He then started saying that he would behave that he did not want to go to the office, that he would follow directions, I refused because as I pointed out he was not following directions and was holding on to the railing so that I would not be able to take him to the office.
Of course at that point the principal passes by and tells him by the next time she passes by, she wants him to be in the office. Not that I am afraid of the principal, she is great, I just could not help but think, she probably thinks I am a horrible teacher because I cannot control this boy. But he made it to the office, EVENTUALLY. and the rest of the day somewhat turned around, but it still did not erase the morning from my mind.
At the end of the day my co teacher talked to his mom, and let her know what we have established in the the classroom (his own desk to sit at because he cannot sit still at the rug without bothering anyone) and our expectations for him to keep his hands to himself. I hope that this conversation with mom makes a difference.
And to top it all off ... Omar had a bad day. The SPED teacher said that he has a tough time with transitions and boy did we see this today. He refused to go to the bathroom and then refused to go to recess and lunch. We were most concerned about him not eating lunch (we eat at 11:25 and the kids stay till 3:50) and we spent the better half of an hour trying to coax him to go and get lunch. I do not actually know what happened but I do know that they called his mother to come help the Special Ed. Teacher with him.
Any ideas to try with either of these friends, I am all open!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)