Jolt I needed- Ruth

This week I realized that some of my students need lessons in life skills and that I am the one who will have to teach them. I feel that I teach some of the smartest students in my county. Unfortunately, what comes with that are a lot of excuses and students who want to get away with unacceptable behavior. I had two students who were clearly out of line this week. The first one was actually trying to fight another student in another class. The second one cut class by going to another teacher's class. Both of these incidents happened in the same day. I decided to address each of these students about their behavior and even though the situations were different my message was the same. I explained to them the importance of thinking about consequences and about their own expectations of themselves. I didn't fuss at either student, but I talked and even listened to their "reasons" for their actions. After all was said and done, I politely told them the consequence for their actions. The next day one of the students came to me and said that she understood what I was saying and that she would do better and that made me happy.  This made me feel that there is hope, it gave a jolt to keep trying to help my students develop life skills.