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Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?
Posted by vet teacher on 10/09/08

On 10/09/08, to all who responded...thanks...and one more thing
about her wrote:
> I had this student last yr--in grade 7.

This is as interesting as the fact that you didn't mention it
before. So what did you do last year that worked? Something worked
- what was it? What was your approach last year? Did you write her
up and was it that that had a positive effect?

Most important - you were in fact fairly successful in getting her
to modify her behavior last year. When you've asked her in your one
on ones - "Chesley, why are we back to the beginning?" - what did
she say? If this were me and I were seeking advice on it my
question would be - how do you recall a student with whom you once
had a working relationship? And the answer is - well, that depends
on what altered the relationship between you. How do you restore
that working relationship?

I understand that to have achieved a working relationship with a
student and then to lose it is indeed frustrating. She's regressed
but so has your relationship with her or - you'd be calling her back
by now and you're not - she's back to where she was or near to?

And the other teachers last year - what worked for them if anything
or was it only you that she moved forward for?

And yes, good point for the poster who said your school has a
problem - if the announcement implied it was 'now or never' for the
cheerleading tryouts, that's wrong and to have interrupted a class
with such a distracting announcement is very wrong.

You can write the student up but asking flighty 8th grade girls with
a chip on their shoulder to sit quietly still through louspeaker
cheerleading tryout announcements is like asking birds not to
startle when they hear a loud noise.

(I now teach grade 8).
> I, and other teachers, had similiar problems with her. Last
> yr, I finally got here to where she'd come into class, sit, do
> her work, raise her hand, and etc. She's regressed. It is
> frustrating. As is the all-call announcement. To the poster
> who said 'coaches come in etc etc'...no, the cheerleader coach
> is the guidance counselor--who is here all the time--and
> another teacher--who is here all the time. I don't know why
> they can't call these kids for a few minutes after--or before
> school--or during homeroom. The disruptions, to me, interrupt
> with the teaching environment that we are supposed to be
> focused on--aka state testing etc. (as an aside...i don't
> think the guidance counselor ever sat one day in a teaching
> classroom--she went straight through to counseling, got her
> degree, and here she is, with absolutely no sensitivity as to
> classroom mechanics and goings-on.
>
>
>
> On 10/09/08, vet English teacher wrote:
>> I'm assuming you want what you do to make a positive
>> difference with her. Is that what you want or at this point
>> are you so frustrated you simply want her punished?
>> People shouldn't give advice without knowing your goal - what
>> do you want to achieve? What you do depends on what you want
>> to achieve.
>>
>> In my experience, kids such as this one get worse - not better
>> - after they're written up. They get more difficult to manage
>> not easier to manage. It's human nature and like the
>> certainty we have about the sun rising tomorrow morning, I'm
>> that certain this kid will get worse if written up. Unless of
>> course you have a wizard with kids Principal but I've found
>> most Principals not to be all that good with kids.
>>
>> If her writing is always tiny, that's a red flag about her
>> underlying skills and a sure sign of a learning difference. It
>> it's not, she still sounds like she's got issues to me -
>> processing issues, call them whatever we will - not every kid
>> has a personality or a profile that's well suited to school
>> and in the better world, we'd have a different kind of school
>> for such kids. Schools with more activity and less sitting,
>> schools with smaller class sizes etc. etc.
>>
>> But we don't and what do we do until then? Well, you told
>> when she couldn't go to cheerleading trials - did you tell her
>> when she could go? Don't assume she can figure that on her
>> own - she doesn't sound like a strong thinker. "Kelly, of
>> course you can't go now - we're taking a test but you can go
>> after class or during lunch or after school. This isn't your
>> last chance by any means. I hope you make the team."
>>
>> Modern people including modern kids argue - it's a societal
>> trait, it's now endemic in our culture. If you're asking how
>> to get people to stop arguing, turn back the clock of time is
>> my only suggestion. They didn't the 50s 'the Silent Society'
>> for nothing.
>>
>> In these situations- use your wits - not your seeming
>> authority because we have no real power over other peoples'
>> emotions. We cannot command people to feel differently than
>> they do and it's their emotions that fuse the situation.Kids
>> have emotional reactions - be savvy when they do and defuse
>> the situation. It's also endemic in our culture now to 'be
>> cool'. So coolly ask "what's up with this? What are you all
>> riled up about? Everything's under control. There's nothing
>> to get jumpy about." Middle school kids hear that and
>> especially her peers who will then turn to her with looks on
>> their faces like "Teacher's right. You're not carryin'
>> yourself cool."
>>
>> Find out if other teachers in the building - even one- has a
>> working relationship with this student. Then find out how they
>> ever accomplished it.... build bridges, not walls.
>>
>> My humble opinion - good luck with her.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>


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Posts on this thread, including this one


• should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/08/08, by Aggravated.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/08/08, by jh.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/08/08, by sb.
• Re: Hmm..., 10/08/08, by Mshope.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/08/08, by Rebecca.
• Re: Your school should be written up, 10/08/08, by i think.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by vet English teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline...? Agree with Rebecca, 10/09/08, by ~connie (who loves Love and Logic).
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by Ima Teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by to all who responded...thanks...and one more thing about her.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by 11 years as teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by 11 years as a teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by vet teacher.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by OP with a few more (longish)responses...to vet teacher et al.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/09/08, by vet teacher.
• Re: What love and logic book?, 10/09/08, by bsk.
• Re: What love and logic book?, 10/09/08, by Rebecca.
• Re: Your school should be written up- Thank You!, 10/10/08, by Terri.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/10/08, by Terri.
• Re: Your school should be written up- Thank You!, 10/10/08, by Carolyn.
• Re: What love and logic book? Great book, 10/12/08, by Mshope.
• Re: should I write a discipline on this student? would you?, 10/13/08, by Jawnte Everette.