Today, I had my first experience handling a student's meltdown on my own. My MT was not here and the substitute was helping with some management issues but essentially deferred to me to handle the class. I felt very prepared going in, but it is hard to manage the whole class especially during times like guided reading when I am working with a small group. One of the students in my class who has behavioral problems was having a difficult afternoon. I called him over to join his guided reading group at my table, and he literally responded "no." This is not typical at all and it is a very establish routine in the classroom when to move from centers and go to the guided reading group. Being on my own in the classroom, I calmly replied, "Ok, you need to make a choice. You can choose to come join your group, or you can choose to be clipped down" (on the behavior color spectrum hanging in the classroom). He still didn't come over, so I followed up with, "Ok, you have made your choice. I'll go move your clip down to yellow." Instantly, he began screaming and throwing a fit. I reminded him one more time that I gave him choices and he made his choice, and if he were to come join us I could move his clip back up. He then threw himself on the floor and curled up in a ball behind the garbage can and screamed and cried. Of course, being first graders, everyone needed to raise their hands and inform me that he was behind the garbage can. I responded to the class to worry about their own work and I did not give him attention. Eventually he calmed down and walked over to our group (halfway through the book), but it was crazy! He has had issues before, but it was an interesting challenge to deal with him on my own.
Does anyone else have any crazy stories about kids throwing fits? Does anyone have any good ideas for how to handle situations like this?
Eeek, this reminds me of something that happened to me a few days ago! I have a student (in kindergarten) who is normally a really sweet boy, but at dismissal the other day, I watched him hit another boy with his (empty) lunchbox as he walked down the hallway. When I tried to get him to come back and apologize, he just looked me in the eye and shook his head "no." When I tried to calmly ask why he hit the other kid, he responded, "I'll punch you in the face." My mentor teacher said when he gets like this (which apparently used to happen a lot at the beginning of the year), there's really no point in trying to reason with him, and she said we would deal with it in the morning. So as he was walking out the door to catch the bus, she said, "We're going to have a meeting with the principal tomorrow, you know that, right?" And he responded, "I'll hit you, too." I was APPALLED at his total defiance and the fact that, not only was he refusing to cooperate, but he actually threatened both me and my mentor teacher. (Again, he is not normally a problem; he requires more attention than other students, but as long as he gets consistent positive reinforcement, he's usually pretty happy in class.)
ReplyDeleteAs soon as the buses were gone, my FM called the students' mom and set up a meeting for first thing the next morning. In the meeting, the principal told him that if he ever threatened a teacher or hit another student again, he would be suspended. He seems to understand the consequences of his actions now; after school today, he was talking to me and said, "If I hit someone, I'm going to be suh... suh-pended. And I'm never gonna get to come back. And you're gonna have to break my clip" [from the behavior chart--he seemed truly heartbroken by this scenario]. Honestly, I was glad that I wasn't really the one that had to deal with this, but I think I would be prepared to handle it if he acted up like this again (although I certainly hope he doesn't!!)
Behavior problems can be really difficult to handle, and our response depends on the individual students. I really like emphasizing that you are giving them a choice between following the rules/procedures and behaving or continuing their behavior, which is inappropriate. This gives those students an opportunity to change what they are doing. However, some of my students negatively respond in the moment, but regret those decisions 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 2 hours later. One other idea is to include some time for the student to calm down and make their choice before they make their decision. “I’m going to give you two minutes to calm down/collect yourself, and then you need to come sit at the guided reading table with us.” I’ve seen some classrooms that also have an area for students to “cool down” with different activities they can do to help them calm down. Some examples: chart to count to 10 deep breaths, box or bag with calming items such as paper to write or draw about the problem/feelings, clay to squeeze, stuffed animal to hug, etc. These could help some of your students calm down and think about the choice they need to make and change their behavior.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher also has a "break" chair in the library with stuffed animals for the students to go over and calm down. He always has them grab a timer when they go so that they do not sit there for longer than two minutes. I have found that taking a break helps some students, but it prolongs the experience for others. My teacher told me that you have to make the decision about whether to be firm or understanding on a case-by-case basis. I think you definitely made the right choice, Melissa by giving him a choice and then ignoring his breakdown! Something else that helps me behavior-management-wise is to ask myself: What would Professor Granier do? It's cheesy, but it really helps me to remember the principles of COMP and to remind myself to be calm no matter the circumstance. I channel my Granier whenever I need to be firm!
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