Some days

When you work with children every day brings a new experience some good some bad. Last week was an exceptionally difficult one. One of our students was a walking time bomb. It would take very little to set her off and when she did the whole class would erupt. In our classroom there are students that can not handle yelling or crying. When she would begin to escalate some students would cover their ears and rock or cry. Others would run up to her and scream at her to stop. She was sent to the principal 5 times last week and after she left the room there was work to be done to calm down the rest of the class. I love what I am doing, but last week was a little draining and I was ready for bed by 9:00 PM every night. This week has been better and I am looking for ways to try to stop the problem before it gets out of control. This is a great learning experience and I am observing how other teachers are handling these difficulties. I am glad to be able to learn how to intercede when necessary.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

One of the things I have found interesting during my observations and student teaching time is the way that teachers try to get the students attention. In some elementary schools the teachers favor the five clap method. This usually gets the students attention and they respond pretty quickly. However if you take that method to another elementary school where the children are told to raise their hands with a peace sign to quiet their peers the students may look at you funny when you clap. There is nothing worse than doing something and find the children looking at you funny. An example of this recently was a substitute teacher in one class I was student teaching stood in front of the classroom and loudly declared "eyes up front" and began counting "three" and then she noticed that the class was silently watching her. At a loss she whispered "two, one". Their regular teacher demanded silence as soon as she said "eyes up front" and there was no counting involved.

I have found that the best and most universal way to get them to be quiet is to stop talking and stand in front of the class watching the students. It may take a minute but the class will notice that something is not right and quiet down.

I have to share with you the most effective method that I have seen is when a certain teacher stopped talking and began humming loudly while she wrote students names on the board. It only took about 10 seconds for silence to ensue. The teacher never said what she was going to do to the students whose names she had written on the board but the students didn't want to find out.

Strengths Finder

I took the strengths finder test and my top five themes were 1) Developer, 2) Empathy, 3) Positivity, 4) Learner, 5) Includer. I feel that these are pretty accurate. I see myself as a person who doesn't want anyone to be left out and try to make sure everyone is included. In most of my previous job I have served as a mentor and/or trainer. I love working with people and watching them when they have learned something new. For students I think that reading is so important. Reading was my life saver growing up and even now I miss it when I am unable to read a book because I am too busy.

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has scored as their themes.

What to do?

When I began student teaching this spring I tried hard to learn all of the student's names and to try to figure out what their particular challenges were. In the beginning I think most of the students were trying to figure me out too. Their was the usual testing to see how far they could go. The snickering when I was at a loss for the right word or erased everything on the smartboard while trying to teach.

One student really tried to test me. While in an inclusion classroom he crawled under the desk and pulled the chair in so that I couldn't get it out. I tried to convince him to come out and he said kept yelling I don't know you. The general education teacher finally said "let him be he is just making a bad choice so it is not our problem". I walked away surprised by the teachers reamark but kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn't hurting himself or anyone else. he rolled around on the floor until it was time to go back to his classroom.

I told the special education teacher what had happened and she spoke to him. I felt like I should have been able to figure out a way to get him back in his chair. I was disappointed that I had not come up with all the right words and ideas to get back in his chair, so I did what anyone in this case would have done, I sulked.

This week we were in the inclusion classroom and this same student did the same thing to the special education teacher. He laid on the floor and refused to get up. After about five minutes of this the teacher called the office and the principal came down to speak to the child. She told him that this is not the way a fourth grader acted and to get up and sit in his chair. He didn't move. I realized then that there is not set way of handling cases like this. The principal became frustrated and kept coming back giving him an additional five minutes to get up. I was not alone. She couldn't make him move either.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this whole thing was that when the teacher spoke to the parent she said "well if he doesn't want to do something why should he have to? He is in a special education class after all." Sometimes it is harder to deal with the parents than the students. Is it any wonder this child disrupts the class and feels he can do whatever he wants?

Full House

Although I have worked with children with with special needs before I have never had a class where all of the students had challenges. They all need attention and assistance and some times it is hard to decide where to go first. Unfortunately the students exhibiting bad behaviors are the first to get the attention and the children who are quiet end up waiting. I try to watch the teachers who have been working with these students for several years to get an idea how best to make it work. Every day it seems like a process of divide and conquer. Even though someone may be a one-on-one aide they also try to help the students who sit nearby. I have already learned a lot of techniques from my supervising teacher. The rewarding part is when you see a student understanding what you are trying to show them. After all that is why we are here to show them the way.