I'll be honest. I started out the day a little discouraged. The circus of 6th period weighed on me. Then I took a deep breath and reminded myself that the reason that these students are here is because there has not been a teacher who has gotten through to them. ANY victory or progress with these students is to be celebrated and remembered.
The first few periods were CRAZY. Not because my students were out of control, but because the Spanish/P.E. teacher brought his class in as well. They were performing a skit for the assembly today and he wanted me to help work with them on their performances. Not a lot of time, but enough to help it to work. They were going over the nonnegotiables on our campus in short little scenes. I think mine and everyone else's favorite part came from my suggestion that during the one on fighting, one of the students punch out the coach. They laughed so hard when he hit the floor, and if we didn't have their attention yet, we had it then.
The student I had the cell phone situation with last week is continuing to come around. He stopped by today and asked about this powerpoint he showed me that he wanted to add stuff to. He also apologized for last week. He said that he had seen others take phones but not return them as promised. He realized that for good and bad, I had been keeping my word and following through.
4th period? She's in in-school suspension for a while. Apparently I'm not the only teacher she doesn't like.
A few of the boys from first period stopped by with one of the O5ers who is no longer in my class. He told me, "Hey, I'm not in your class anymore." I let him know any points he earned I would hold on to, as well as his folder, for when he came back. The other boys were just saying hi, and I couldn't help smiling inside. They love to act so tough sometimes, but they were just so precious I almost teared up.
Ah, 6th period. I cam ready for them today. I found the most boring powerpoint I could on the elements of design and told them that for not working I was going to have them watch it and take notes. After a lot of groans, they begged and pleaded and promised to work. The worst offender yesterday was put in in-school suspension for a while, so I took them at their word and let them off. However, I did not let them off in regards to the young lady who had been distracting half of them all week. I had her sit up front at the desk alone and told them that anyone who talked to her would lose 5 points. And if she talked to anyone she would lose 5 points. One student was penalized fairly quickly, and they cooperated after that. They assumed her deal was a result of an agreement with the VP. Heh. Didn't tell them it was just me experimenting with classroom management. After about 15 minutes, she said "I've been good, can I go over there now?" Nope. Maybe if the rest of today goes well, we'll reconsider on Tuesday. She frowned but went back to her seat. She managed to survive the rest of the period, and get work done, and didn't prevent others from working, so I gave her the last 2 minutes of class to talk with them again. I made sure to tell her from the beginning that this was not about punishing her, it was about wanting to help her and others do well in the class. All of this was to be temporary, until we all got back on track with how things were going last week. I ended my day with renewed confidence.
And we keep moving forward!
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