I felt fairly confident coming into the day because I am so familiar with our routines and our kids. I am at the point where I can predict how each kid will react to certain aspects of a lesson or of the day as a whole. I knew that The Wanderer would likely be back to wandering because one of his stable adults wasn't going to be in the room. As predicted, he left the room three separate times without asking or telling me where he was going. None of them were serious and he returned in 5-10 minutes as he usually does. When I confronted him about one of these times while the other kids were working on something, he got defensive and argued that his cousin NEEDED his help across the hallway in the LMC to find a book. (I have to laugh a little bit at this- this kid comes up with the funniest excuses.) I told him that it's not safe for him to leave the room without asking because I need to know where he is all the time. I also reminded him that when he leaves the room, he misses out on instructions or work time. As his teacher, I don't always have the time to check back in with him when he decides to mosey back to the room. This is still an issue on my plate because I don't think I said anything that convinced him to stop leaving. I'm making a mental note to get this ironed out before I start my lead weeks.
At the beginning of the morning, my CT asked me what my goals for the day were. The three things that immediately came to mind were:
1) Having eyes all around the room. I noticed while watching my TPA videos that I'll get so into a conversation with a student that I miss other students who go an entire 30 minutes without actually getting anything done besides chatting it up with their neighbors or doing karate in our large group space. Not okay, kids!
2) Being able to manage student behavior. As I've said in previous posts, the biggest issue that I have in terms of classroom management is how to handle small student conflicts while also teaching a class of 17 kids. So often our kids play the "he said, she said" "she looked at me funny, he called me mean" game throughout the day. I try to ask "Is this a teacher problem or a kid problem?" in hopes that they will just drop it and move on. When they respond with, "I'm really sad. I want you to help me talk to them." how can I just walk away? This happened several times today. I am still working on how to handle little student conflicts like this because instead of just taking the kids into the hallway for a talk like I typically would, I had 14 other kids that needed my attention at the same time. I was proud of myself though because a few times I was able to pause the issue with kids, get the others working on something, and then return to the issue. It's a start.
3) Less teacher talking, more kid work time. Sometimes I think I'm the queen of connections. My brain feels like it is going 100 miles an hour sometimes and constantly thinking about ways that I could extend a lesson or celebrate something awesome that a kid says. Unfortunately, there isn't enough time in the day for me to acknowledge every thought that me or the kids have that's awesome. I was able to stick to the schedule for the most part today. Things got pinched at the end of my math lesson, but I kept my directions and modeling of a math game to just FIVE minutes! It's a new record. And you know what? The spent the last five minutes of our math time totally playing the game correctly.
The Silver Lining
One of my favorite parts of today was something that I came up with "spur of the moment" over the lunch hour. Last week, the kids wrote down a list of five nice adjectives about themselves on a note card. On the opposite side, they wrote five nice adjectives about everyone that sits at their table. I was trying to think of a clever way to have them share, when I remembered the "laying of the hands" activity that I had done at my church. We used it to pray about one another, but I've also done it in workshops where we shared "warm fuzzies" about each other. I talked it over quickly with my CT and she suggested having the students just stack their hands instead of placing them on shoulders, arms, etc. This turned out to be a good call.
I modeled what it should look and sound like and then I let the kids go to work. It was the afternoon, so predictably, the kids were a little high strung and silly. I wish I would have emphasized that this activity is meant to make people feel good and respected and not meant to be silly or playful. Regardless, they got it done and it seemed to have made kids feel the way I had hoped. Back in the large group, I had them share one feeling about the activity. They said things like, "There were so many drips in my bucket that it overflowed and I needed another one!" (See 'Have You Filled A Bucket Today?' by Carol McCloud if you have no idea what I'm referencing here.) Another student, one who is often negative and down on herself, said, "I felt special. I felt like it was my birthday or something, like it was a special event just for me." I was so happy that they felt how I felt when I had this same activity done for me. Everyone deserves to be the center of attention sometimes!
Then I asked kids how it felt to have their hands on one another's hands. They gave a resounding response of, "It was weird." Then I asked them, "Why do you think I had you touch the person that you were talking about?" Blank stares. Decided to try a different approach. I turned to the student next to me and said, "Kind, honest, funny, hardworking, brave." Then, I said them again, but this time I looked her in the eye and put my hand on her hand. I asked the kids which one of them they thought made her feel better. They said the second. I then briefly explained that we often use our hands to make other people feel noticed, loved, or appreciated. I said, "When you guys are having a hard time or needing some attention from me, a lot of times I'll come to you and do something like this." I patted a student's leg and rubbed another one's shoulder. The Wanderer said, "You do that for me. When I'm having a hard time you always do that for me." I have SO much love for that kid. I'm so glad that he realizes that I care about him! I think the kids had a good takeaway from this lesson and I think it made them feel good. We are taking the adjectives and making them into Wordles for each kid. I want to find a way to make them into t-shirts! What's better than wearing a t-shirt that says all the reasons why you're awesome? I'm all about building confidence.
I think that's my longest post to date. My hands are tired! Still have to work on my TPA commentaries yet tonight. I would so much rather tire my typing fingers on a blog post about my kids than answering redundant TPA questions...
So long for now,
Brittany
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