This is my fourth year teaching and each year brings with it unexpected moments. Recently I have been struggling with one of my students and his behavior in class. It got so bad with this student and his little group of cronies, that the entire sixth grade staff had to have a meeting to come up with an official plan of attack. What behaviors were we going to allow, which ones were we going to try to get rid off, etc. Basically the biggest thing that all of us were noticing was this enormous lack of respect for any and all adults in the school. I even had the lovely experience of having the said student laugh in my face when I tried to talk to him about his behavior.
With that said, we came up with a list of expectations and consequences for breaking the rules. We made sure the students knew that we were serious - threatening suspension among other things.
The past two weeks of school we have seen a noticeable change in these students' behaviors - that is until Tuesday. All of the sudden these kids are trying new tactics for annoyance. They know they can't cuss in class, but they think that maybe - just maybe - they can get away with constantly (and I mean constantly) uttering such nonsense words as...."applesauce". All day Tuesday, that was all I heard. In the hall, in the class, during lessons, everytime this kid would walk past my desk. "Applesauce" - with a mischevious gleam in his eye. I finally threatened to send him to the office if he said it one more time. To which he responded, "You're going to send me to the office for saying Applesauce!?" I had to stop a minute and consider the implications. If I did send him down, what would the administration think when they saw the description of the infraction? I would look like an idiot - which I'm sure was the goal of these little minions the whole time.
I finally approached the vice principal and gave her a heads up about what the new scheme against the teachers was. Her response? She laughed. Laughed a lot. She told me to try to defuse it with humor. I don't know about that. I'll try it.
In the meantime, today is Thursday and this student has moved on from Applesauce as the word of the day to Hummus Cakes, and then today - Chocolate Cake. Oh the joys of teaching twelve year olds.
3 comments:
Trish I am sorry, that sucks but is really funny. I would just say some nonsense thing right back him or them. Play long with them and don't let them get under your skin.
Sorry! I am laughing right now as I am supporting you!
That is amazing! I swear kids get more clever with time. I think kid movies with adult humor (sarcasm and double meanings) are making kids more clever over time. I can't imagine even knowing what hummus cakes were, much less using them in place of profanity to annoy a teacher. You have to give it to them Trish, they are smart cookies (no pun intended).
Love you!
Kendra
My students are only a year older than yours. It's crazy, isn't it? My struggle right now isn't any one student . . . it's an entire class! Each individual student is ok, it's just a very bad combination of kids. I've tried every seating arrangement I can think of. When that class ends every day, I I just want to go home. We should compare stories one of these days.
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