Fixing Line Problems

THE PROBLEM:  When I go to get the kids from recess or when we make a line to get out the door, it usually takes a minute or two to get them straight... too long!

MY GREAT EXCUSES FOR LETTING IT GET THIS BAD:

• I just had a baby 6 weeks ago and am super tired all the time.
• I have more boys than girls in my class and they are hyper.
• I have one boy on meds for ADHD, and at least three more that would probably qualify if the parents would try.
• I have a boy with Oppositional Defiance Disorder (probably).  If I start to correct him, especially in front of the other kids, I might be in for more than I bargained for.  I have to pick my battles and try to read his mood a bit or I may be taking 5 to 10 minutes to calm him down.
• I looped with my kids, so they are all best friends from last year and can chat for hours.
• I was gone for a week right at the beginning of school with several different subs in the classroom.  They kids had free reign to build their own little behavior weather system.  
• I am working extra hard this year with all the new programs and technology that we are implementing at the school.  I feel like I live there.  I get my home keys out on accident some times to try to get in my classroom!  Too Much!

 
There... that felt good... now I can leave it behind and move onto the fix....


THE FIX:

• Bring my iPad out to line and take a snap shot of them before I tell them to get in line.  Bring it back inside and analyse it with them.  Give them an understanding of what they are doing and what I want from them.  Make it really clear.
• Find a sixth grade class and have them be the non-example of a line and take a picture of them.  Then after processing with my class take a picture of them being straight and perfect.  Make a chart of the two lines contrasting them and post it in the classroom for reference.
• Have some greater consequences.  Turn cards or 5 minutes of line practice for kids who are chronic talkers.  Give some extra great rewards for kids who are consistently showing responsibility.

I think we will start with this and see how it goes....

Behavior Plan in Action

I have been very happy with how the new behavior plan has been working with student GG.  As he has undergone more testing and has had more attention it is coming out that maybe oppositional/defiance disorder may be a possible diagnosis.  That would really make sense to me seeing how he interacts with authority and other students.  A couple different strategies have seemed to be better than others.  I really try to stay away from the "you verses me" moments of the tests of wills.  From last year in his first grade classroom we saw that most of the time those moments ended really poorly.  What I do is very calmly and with little aroused emotion at all I use words to address him in the situation.  I redirect him, I give him feedback on the category of his behavior, I let him know that he is doing something that he should no be doing, or that he is not doing something that he needs to do.  The latter seems to be more common as he is often passive defiant or passive aggressive.  For example, one of his behaviors is to simply slip out of the flow of the classroom and begin to do his own thing in defiance of what the job of the room is.  Usually something has trigged it like a problem with another student or an internal conflict of something that he is remembering.  He will cease to follow directions of any sort at that point and appear to be tuning out the world.  He way wander to the computers when it is rug time or simply refuse to come in from recess time and lodge himself in the slide.  Last year mom had to come one day and pry him off of the slide and literally drag him kicking and screaming back to home.  (7 suspensions last year).  I want to avoid those blow up moments with him as they almost always end bad.  Yet, I still need to hold the line with him in terms of accountability and classroom rules.  That structure and consistency is vital for him, and the other students.  The form it has taken is to have delayed consequence.  If he does something that is defiant or "not following directions" I calmly talk him through what I see and what he is doing.  I stay as facts based as possible.  I let him know that he is not following directions and communicate to him that he has crossed a line.  I really try to stay away from any kind of shame or public humiliation.  If I can whisper it to him so that only he and I hear, then I will.  Then, later, maybe at the end of the day when we are in our reflective time on the day and the emotion of the event has passed we talk through the time and he will then have his consequence... turning cards, no tokens, missing recess.  He will often argue with me about it, but when I verbally processed it with him in that moment, I have those words to go back to with him lay out the facts very clearly for him.  He has seemed to respond well to that.  I believe that it feels fair to him even though he doesn't like it, which is key.  We will see how it goes.... we are only in October, so we have a lot of year left to go!

Behavior Contract (following directions)

 

Behavior Plan

Goal:  Improve the student’s ability to follow the teacher’s directions.

         Tokens / chips will be used as a sort of money to be earned through periods of time where the student is compliant with the teacher’s general classroom directions as well as the teacher’s specific directions to that student.  The student will earn tokens and be able to keep them in their special bank as they are accumulated.  The student will then be able to use their tokens in the teacher’s store to purchase items that they want.  They will also be able to use their tokens to purchase free time for an activity that they would like to do.

          Tokens will be given out at the end of the day as the teacher and the student have a conference to talk about the day and how it went.  Tokens can also be given out in the moment when the student is showing outstanding listening and following direction skills. 

Store/free time prices

10 minutes of free time	2 tokens
Small prize from the prize jar	4 tokens
Small food snack	8 tokens
Large prize	16 tokens

Blocks of time (1 token for each)

Early morning to recess	1 token
Late morning to lunch	1 token
Lunch to last recess	1 token
Last recess to going home	1 token

Student Name ______________________ date started ______________

Teacher signature __________________________________

Tuna fishing at Woodcrest (back in the frey)

So I got busy and stopped blogging for a bit... that in and of itself tells a little bit about how teaching is sometimes.  You just can't do it all!

I think I am going to take some space here this year in the blog and allow myself some entries that are just getting some of the tangles from the day out.  It can be really helpful just to get down what is happening in my life and in my head... maybe gain some perspective.  Life is really busy right now.  I am looping with my first graders from last year along with about 8 other kids to make up my second grade classroom.  30 kids in my room.  I was with them for 2 days and then went out on paternity leave for the birth of my daughter.  (really great!)  She came about 2 weeks early so I was not completely set up with plans and a sub for the whole time.  So, they had sub 1 for one day, sub 2 for two days, and then back to sub 1 for another two days and then back to me after my paltry 5 days of paternity were up.   I got back in with them Thursday of last week.  ...  I love tuna fishing.  I went on a trip this last summer with my friend Justin.  There is a moment in tuna fishing where you have hooked a big fish and then it makes a run from the boat.  You let it run until it tires and then you start cranking it back up towards the boat.  After a bit it will usually make another run away from the boat and you let it go and then start cranking again... that is what I am doing with my class right now.  They were doing really well at the end of the year last year.  But, knowing each other and feeling comfortable in my classroom along with subs and inconsistency with systems and behavior, they are on the run away from the "boat" of where I want them to be with behavior.  Life is just a bit messy there right now.  I am feeling like the micromanaging over-lord and I am sure they are feeling like a wet blanket has been thrown on them.  Just not too fun.  There is also the wildcard of student G who had severe problems with open defiance last year in first grade to the tune of being sent home maybe 20 times.  He has had one episode this year so far and the team responded ... admin., mom, uncle, me ... and he fell back in line.  With all this tension and struggle in the room there have been multiple stomach aches and head aches that don't seem to have a real medical cause other than kids trying to get settled into a classroom with a lot going on.  Having said all of that, it is really fun to be back in the saddle with this same group.  We have a good relationship and although a bit bumpy with at least three boys with ADHD and student G, I am feeling optimistic about the year.  I am thinking that we will need to find some celebration time here at the end of this week and have a cookie or something to balance out the yen and the yang of reeling the class in as we start this new school year.