3rd Week: The Claws have come out

Hey all! So the honeymoon period in the classroom is over and the real people are coming out. Am I still in love with my job? YES! In the picture on the right, that's me and my paraprofessional Ms. Griffin- she helps me out in the classroom and is wonderful. Are there crazy things that happen? Yes. I mentioned in a previous post that I have a couple students who tend to throw fits or tantrums, one of them has really improved. He had a couple really amazing days and his mom rewarded him, and I praised the guts out of him! He loves that positive praise and energy and craves it now, the other one...has had some rough days.

Last week we went to do literacy centers and he didn't want to start in rhyming, he wanted to play with blocks. When I told him he couldn't play with blocks- complete melt down. Screaming, crying, rolling on the floor. During this time he moved his name down to red, and started losing recess time. He ended up losing his whole recess. He calmed down eventually and we talked about appropriate behavior in the classroom but the real insanity happened at recess when he realized he'd really lost it. I asked him to sit on the bench at recess and the insanity started up again but this time like 10 times worse. He was outside so if he were to throw himself on the floor he could really hurt himself, consequently I had to restrain him on the bench. He kicked and punched me, Indian burned my arm and screamed "Let me go! I want my MAMA!!! MAMA!!!". There was more but you get the idea. It was bad.

Now for the good news. Nothing he did changed his consequence. He sat out the whole recess on the bench, with me. Consequently, he now behaves much better! The next few meltdowns he's had have been resolved quickly (as a result of some Heavenly inspiration, I started having students ask him to join them at the right center or at the table- the rest of the kids in the class are super helpful and willing!), he's starting to really behave like a normal student. He's started acting out a little after recess, but that is just for attention. So if I ignore him and make sure that he knows nothing is going to change unless he acts like he should- he behaves! MIRACLE OF MIRACLES! He lost fun friday and didn't even complain, he knew why and knew he didn't deserve it. He sat and put his head down the whole time. I'm so proud of him and the progress he's made, he's becoming such an amazing student.