Of everything you did last week as a teacher, what would you do differently? Why?
This week, one of my at-risk students finally erupted in the classroom. Up until that event, I had been treating him with "kid gloves" and nurturing him along by showing him a little extra attention. I knew that he needed this kind of attention to keep him on-task and less disruptive. He finally took advantage of some of the extra privileges that I had bestowed upon him. All of a sudden, he felt like he was above the shop rules for safety and had a violent episode in class with another student. I knew that the student was having a rough week but I could not allow his behavior to go unchecked. I gave the student a choice to sit down or to involve an adiministrator. He chose to see an administrator and I did not back down from the choices that I had given him; we (the student and myself) discussed the incident with the assistant principal. The student was reprimanded by the administration and was promptly given a consequence for his defiant behavior. I regret that the student made that decision because two days later, he dropped out of school. Although I do not feel fully responsible that the student withdrew from school, I do feel as though I could have handled it differently; I'm just not sure what I could have done.
Don't blame yourself it was probably a long time coming. I've had some of the same feelings. An administrator told me sooner or later, if I was gonna stay in teaching I had to come to terms with the fact that you can't save the all.
ReplyDeleteGary,
ReplyDeleteWhen you gave the student the choice,you put the ball in his court.Instead of making a go of it he decided to walk off.Johnny is right you can't save them all!
Gary, I think you did exactly what you should have done. You gave the student a choice. He made his own decision.
ReplyDeleteOne time an RVI teacher told me that we just could not help them all. And that if a student had already made up his/her mind that he/she was going to leave school, that about all we could do was help them out the door.
And it sounds like this student had already made his decision. He knew exactly what the consequences of his behavior would be. He wanted to quit school. So he did.
Maybe in a few years he will get his GED. But only he can make the decision to make positive changes for himself.
I don't think there was a thing that you could have done differently to help this student.
frequently when i would tell a suspect that i was going to charge someone with a crime they responded, "Why are you doing this to me?" i would tell them they are responsible for their actions..seems like a fitting response to this post as well..our school even has a few posters on the wall with phrase..i want to get that painted on my wall over the door
ReplyDelete