Teamwork

I have had a student in my classroom this year who has been a bit of a handful.  I won't go into all the issues, but if you have been around teaching for any length of time, I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about.  Every classroom has some sort of system in place to monitor behavior and keep the kids focused and motivated.  But, for some students those systems are just not enough, you have to do something else as well.  I put this student on a behavior contract the second week of school, I had to do something fast!  The system worked ok for a period of time, but after a while the behavior was so out of control and I realized I needed some outside help.  I talked to the principal and the school psychologist and let them know what was happening.  I took lots of data and what the behaviors were and when they were happening.  But the very best thing I did was talk to one of my partner teachers about it.  She agreed to have her classroom be a bail out place if things were just too intense and there needed to be a break.  It also helps that she rules her room with an iron fist, but in a velvet glove.  So, when the big blowouts would happen, I would send him down for 20 minutes.  It worked like magic.  It was a break for him and got him out of the situation which really helped him with the kind of behavior he was having... it was very tied to what was happening around him.  It also allowed the room a break as well and some time away to be able to focus on finishing the lesson.  I am sure this kind of thing happens all over the place in many different schools.  But, with this student, I was reminded again of how powerful that classroom teamwork can be!