Working for the WeekendFebruary 17-18, 24, 2007
Up to this point I have had a pretty good run in terms of the overall behavior of the kids I work with at the unnamed educational service. While some of the kids definitely have their highs and lows in terms of keeping focus, staying on task, etc. for the most part behavior has not prevented the children from begin productive during the hour I spend with them. That all changed on the weekend of February 17-18, perhaps due as much to coincidence as anything else.
Each weekend when I arrive at the center there is a daily schedule that tells me: A) Which 2-3 kids I will work with in hour 1, hour 2, etc.; B) Which table I will be working at (this is usually the same for the entire shift); and C) What subject I will be working on with them, either reading or math. There is no rhyme or reason to how the students will be arranged as different kids are coming and going from noon-4p, usually for 2-hour intervals but sometimes longer. It is unusual for me to have the same kid for more than 2 hours at a time. However, just this past weekend I had the same boy at my table for 4 hours straight. Fortunately, we got along well and he was an excellent independent worker.
So, for the first two hours of my shifts on both Saturday the 17th and Sunday the 18th I had the same three kids, two girls and a boy. I had worked with each child in different groupings in the past and knew that they had a tendency to goof off and not complete many assignments. Little did I know that putting the three of them at the same table together would multiply the behavioral issues exponentially. Whether it was giggling, talking to each other or asking to go to the bathroom or get a drink (along with sharpening the pencil, a classic method of student procrastination) several times during the hour, these kids brought the bad behavior trifecta to the table that day. Unfortunately, I was the dealer.
Initially, I tried to control this situation with verbal warnings and stern looks, but finally I had to really let the group have it by raising my voice to them. Much to my surprise, at one point one of the girls said “But we can do this in school” to which I quickly responded: “This isn’t school.” What I really wanted to say was “Look, the reason you are here in the first place is because you behave like this in school instead of doing your work,” but it would not be appropriate in a setting where we are trying to encourage the kids. The reality is that kids live in the here and now and don’t connect bad behavior in school with the need to come to the center on evenings and weekends.
The “bad combination of students setting each other off” experience was not a new one to me, in that during my student teaching I learned that teachers frequently rearrange desks and change the location of students throughout the year to facilitate better behavior and, of course, learning. As a teacher at the unnamed educational service, the challenge is that when it is just me and the three kids misbehaving at the table there isn’t anywhere for me to move them. Where’s Jack Bauer when you need him?
Each weekend when I arrive at the center there is a daily schedule that tells me: A) Which 2-3 kids I will work with in hour 1, hour 2, etc.; B) Which table I will be working at (this is usually the same for the entire shift); and C) What subject I will be working on with them, either reading or math. There is no rhyme or reason to how the students will be arranged as different kids are coming and going from noon-4p, usually for 2-hour intervals but sometimes longer. It is unusual for me to have the same kid for more than 2 hours at a time. However, just this past weekend I had the same boy at my table for 4 hours straight. Fortunately, we got along well and he was an excellent independent worker.
So, for the first two hours of my shifts on both Saturday the 17th and Sunday the 18th I had the same three kids, two girls and a boy. I had worked with each child in different groupings in the past and knew that they had a tendency to goof off and not complete many assignments. Little did I know that putting the three of them at the same table together would multiply the behavioral issues exponentially. Whether it was giggling, talking to each other or asking to go to the bathroom or get a drink (along with sharpening the pencil, a classic method of student procrastination) several times during the hour, these kids brought the bad behavior trifecta to the table that day. Unfortunately, I was the dealer.
Initially, I tried to control this situation with verbal warnings and stern looks, but finally I had to really let the group have it by raising my voice to them. Much to my surprise, at one point one of the girls said “But we can do this in school” to which I quickly responded: “This isn’t school.” What I really wanted to say was “Look, the reason you are here in the first place is because you behave like this in school instead of doing your work,” but it would not be appropriate in a setting where we are trying to encourage the kids. The reality is that kids live in the here and now and don’t connect bad behavior in school with the need to come to the center on evenings and weekends.
The “bad combination of students setting each other off” experience was not a new one to me, in that during my student teaching I learned that teachers frequently rearrange desks and change the location of students throughout the year to facilitate better behavior and, of course, learning. As a teacher at the unnamed educational service, the challenge is that when it is just me and the three kids misbehaving at the table there isn’t anywhere for me to move them. Where’s Jack Bauer when you need him?
posted by Grant @ 9:56 PM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home