I love blogging. Not just writing them, but also reading them…or as I like to call it “blog-stalking” haha I wish I blogged more. I am thinking about making it a goal to blog 5 days a week... but I am not sure I am ready to commit to that…
But I think I will make myself do it.
The new school year has begun for me. This is always a stressful and kind of chaotic time for me. If I don’t establish my classroom to run the way I want it to run in the first few days…it is near impossible to get it the way I want it. Well day one came and went. I had a cute first day of school outfit (this might be the only thing I like about the first day of school). I have 25 students in my class…majority being boys. Most of them seem like good kids. I have a few that have the potential to be a handful..but nothing I cant handle J
Day two came….and was rougher than I would have liked. The day was going as I woyld have wanted it until one of my potentially challenging students (we are going to call him J) had a bit of an episode. I had asked him to stop makin noise (which I learned later…that he believed I had falsely accused him of making noice). Well after my telling him to stop a few times, his whole demeanor changes and he yells. “f@*! You!”
I have NEVER in my life been told that. Let alone by a 10 year old.
I would love to say that I handle the situation with poise, maturity, and control.
I didn’t. I freaked out. I yelled. I kicked him out of my classroom.
Once I had him in my “office” (which is what we call the ramp outside my portable) I proceeded to “talk loudly at him” (or yell) and he immediately shut down on me. I realized part way through this, that things weren’t going as I had planned. Typically I can talk to a kid out here and get the situation handled. But since he shut down…nothing was happening. So ultimately I made sure he understand how disrespectable and inappropriate his behavior was. I made sure he knew that I would not allow such behavior. I explained his consequence of referral and detention with me. He understood, came back inside and just sat there until recess.
Once I talked to him one-on-one I got a better understanding of him. (he comes from one of the roughest home-life situations..ugh…breaks my heart) I learned he does not respond to me getting in his face. He responds to one-on-one, CALM discussion. He is a bright kid so this dialogue approach works well. He eventually apologized for his behavior and we had a great rest of the day.
I know it has been only 3 days, but I feel like J is going to be one of my favorite students ever. I am excited to see all the opportunities I have to help him grow over the year.
