Hello all!!!
I hope that your semester is still going well and that your
KPTP submission went smoothly.
For my reflection, I am asking for your advice on some
matters I’m having trouble handling.
1. In my freshman class I have one girl who keeps picking on
the boy sitting next to her. She keeps telling him he’s dumb and stupid. He’s
recently started referring to himself as dumb/stupid and when I assigned them
an assignment to discuss their split identities (home vs school) (sports vs
friends) etc, he put that one of his traits was that he was dumb on it.
Here’s what I’ve tried:
I know that they are in AVID together and my CT is in the
process of visiting with their AVID teacher.
I’ve revisited the social contract, with the whole class,
they made at the beginning of the
semester , reminding them that they said that they would be respectful.
I’ve asked her to change her behavior towards him and she
simply rolls her eyes and is back to the same thing again.
2. In the same freshman class, I have a student who insists
on talking over me and cussing frequently. At some points he refuses to work
and disrupts the rest of the class.
Here’s what I’ve tried:
Asking him to change his behavior.
Revisiting social contract with whole class.
Asked to conference privately with him. He refused.
Wrote him up and sent him to the office.
Any advice you have on these two matters would be greatly
appreciated!!!!!
Now for something not so troubling. I recently went to PLC Literacy meeting where we discussed
bringing common core into the classroom and we used a book I highly recommend
to everyone called “The Core Six”. It offers great tips and activities for
integrating Common Core into your classroom.
Our discussion today was about vocabulary. The leader of the
PLC meeting asked us to recall the methods we used to integrate vocabulary into
our classroom. I then realized that I haven’t been using any methods to
integrate vocabulary. The book has a method and order for integrating
vocabulary and I wasn’t using any of them! When I was done being disappointed
in myself, I realized that while I am introducing new vocabulary into my unit,
I’m not focusing on it or making it known to my students that this is the
vocabulary we’re focusing on for this unit! She then provided us with a paper
to focus on our unit and what vocabulary words we were using and what methods
we might integrate now or in the future. While I realized that there were parts
of my unit that I need to re-evaluate before I teach The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian again, it showed me
that not everything will be perfect and that’s okay! It also showed me that the
great thing about our jobs is that we can learn from our mistakes and improve
on them constantly.
Ms. Curley,
ReplyDeleteI have had the same struggle with the negativity and respect exhibited by your students. I recently tried asking the student to then say something positive about the student because their disrespect was unacceptable. This worked for my situation, it may work for yours. I would suggest having a private conference with the student making these comments. If this behavior still continues I would recommend sending her to the principal or providing some sort of detention (if that is what your school does). You could also change up your seating chart and place the girl in a different spot, perhaps even to a seat by herself or directly in front of the class.
Thank you for the wonderful recommendation, I am definitely going to look into this!
As far as your other student goes, I am surprised he is still continuing this behavior after being sent out of the room. Does your student have an IEP or 504 plan that would help you better understand his behavior? When I first began student teaching I had some students who could not focus and they did have an IEP so it helped me design lessons with their needs in mind.
If you do want to talk to him I would suggest trying to catch him before he walks into your class. I would suggest saying that his behavior is unacceptable and disrupting the course.
I have asked my students to please not use language, or to please not be disrespectful, but it comes to the point where you need to tell instead of ask. This is what my CT advised me while she observed my lessons. Yes we naturally want to be polite and ask students to discontinue something, but at some point you simply need to tell them this is unacceptable.
Our job is very forgiving in the sense that we are able to learn, change, and adapt our future lessons. Students can be patient and understanding when it comes to not so great lessons. Reflection makes or breaks teachers.
I just wanted to pop in to agree whole-heartedly with you about the Core 6 book. That thing is awesome! After attending PLC, my CT and I sat down with our lesson plans and integrated strategies from The Core 6 into almost every lesson, even our AP junior classes. In AVID, we are ending the year with a college choice board. Students will be required to do a certain amount of activities from the choice list, but they get to pick the activities on their own. Some of those activities came straight out of the Core 6 book, because they are already so well planned and explained. I would also recommend all of our colleagues pick up a copy (they could probably get them for free at their schools!).
ReplyDeleteThe Core 6 book seems to be an awesome tool. I wish that East would have meeting about this book. Maybe they just haven't had it yet.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that you are struggling with a bullying issue. Have you tried to send them both to a counselor. Does North have a peer mediation sort of group that you can request to come ans speak to these two students?
The defiant student is a tough one. The only thing that you can do is continue to pull him aside and talk to him. Have you asked him why he feels the need to continuously disrupt class. Maybe a counselor can help you by talking to him... You also could try and talk to his other teachers and see if he does the same thing in their class and maybe they have found a way to get him to behave in class that you haven't tried yet.
1) I love the Core 6 book also.
ReplyDelete2) With your student who is picking on the boy, have you tried talking to her alone. I'm not sure if you have but addressing students with strong dominate personalities in front of the classroom will get negative responses. When you talk to her you may have to get a parent invovled. Or concider moving her in a different area of the room. I like how you are talking with the AVID teacher; she will have more ideas and is probably having the same problem. The advise I recommended I did myself and it is working. The students are not friends (expected) but they are also not name calling either so I'm happy with the results.
3) With the student who is talking over you, I am having that same problem. He gets sent out by me often but it doesn't help him learn. I need ideas on how to get through to this type of student myself. He doesn't have home problems and mom is calling a lot asking for help with behavior. I am currently trying to get him invovled in after school activities to communicate more with his peers. I am also trying to find a male role model.