Catching up: Friday, two of my “special” students decided to try to ruin the class effort to earn a free day for the day before Thanksgiving break. I called their parents Friday afternoon, then yesterday I told their class that I wasn’t going to let two people ruin it for them, that those two people were out of the game and would be taking an assessment the day before Thanksgiving out in the hallway with an AP to monitor them.The girl griped and moaned once or twice about snoopy, mean teachers calling parents, then I didn’t hear another peep out of her for the rest of the class. The boy, however, stayed after class to help clean up and pick up materials, and he asked, “What can I do to get back in the game?”YAY!
I told him he could choose to be a “team player” and strive to follow all the rules to earn the free day like everybody else, or he could choose to be on the discipline tracking system. One time only, choose now, “choose… wisely” type situation.
His response was, “I wanna be a team player.”
YAY!
Then, today I made a point today of apologizing to my class when the one “special” student who isn’t in the game lost them points… I remembered right after taking off the points, told them that wasn’t right, put the points back up, and gave the girl a check on her discipline tracking form instead.
She asked, “I’m not the only one doing this, am I?”
See, she’s always had that one boy backing her up, validating her choices, and now she sits at the front of the room, by herself, without her dysfunctional support system. And when I said, “Yes, dear, you are the only one so far taking the assessment on the day before Thanksgiving,” a student in the back, whom I have never heard a PEEP out of, hollered to her “Sucks to be alone, huh?”
The class ROARED with laughter.
I’m hoping that if the incentive of assessment versus freeday doesn’t get to her, perhaps social ostracism will. Cruel, perhaps, but the girl has GOT to learn how to control her impulses. She’s not “special” as in special-ed, she’s a very bright child with no modifications, but she’s confrontational, whiney, clingy, and sometimes just downright mean-spirited. I don’t know what else to do to motivate her to effectively contribute to her own learning - I mean, I’m getting her as a freshman, not a first grader. How to play well with others should have been TAUGHT to her before now.
I’m not one for holding grudges with a student, especially freshmen, because the slate is wiped clean at the end of every day - I greet them ALL with a big smile and a message about how glad I am they came to class every day, and they mostly greet me back with a smile and the same cheerful attitude because they KNOW I mean it - I love them all. But one or two infractions that are ongoing, I have to track those behaviors and try to motivate the students to change them, somehow. And sometimes the situation is one that I can’t control, at all - it’s a campus or district policy and they just don’t GET it that they cannot violate campus or district policy and get a pass for it.
For example, I have one student who is taking an ROTC course off campus for first period, so she rides the school shuttle to our campus after first period. The AP who arranged the whole system sent out an email letting all the teachers know who they were, and that they would be 10 minutes late for second period most days - which is fine, because that’s when they do announcements, the pledge, moment of silence… so she’s not missing instruction. Well. The first two weeks of school she did fine, but then she started getting to class later, and later, and later, until this last week she was showing up five minutes before class was OVER. She was marked “absent” those days - I mean, she was well over that magical 10 minute mark, and even beyond the ten minutes after that in which I would have marked her tardy.
So today, she comes in telling her friend that “that pinche puta (fucking whore for you non-texican-speakers) has been marking me absent when I’m here!”
I told her to stay a minute after class and we’d talk.
One: she had no idea her AP had let us all know exactly what time the shuttle comes in every day and I was right to mark her absent - she’s officially skipped 11 days, now, and must take Saturday school to make up time and get credit for the class.
Two: she was sure surprised when I told her that the next time she called me a fucking whore I was going to write her up. OH MY GOD! A WHITE LADY WHO UNDERSTANDS HER FAVORITE CUSS WORDS! THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!
Anyhow…
Any of you teachers out there come across anything quite this fun, or have any good classroom management tips to try on freshman?
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