I'm breeding a shot-puter!
Behavior is a constant battle in my school. We have many students who are lacking the ability to differentiate solving problems in the streets vrs. school. We are always telling them, "I'm sure that is a great way to solve problems at home but here at school we have other ways to solve conflicts." So, this year I have been able to keep the extreme outbursts to a minimum...until last Thursday! I have one girl, lets call her "shot-put" who has had many problems in the past but has done very well this year in my room.
On Thursday Shot-put was angry all day about something that happened at home so I had been watching her constantly be on edge with her peers and myself. By 2:00 she had had enough! I needed all of them to clean up their math and get ready for writing. They had adequate time but Shot-put was not going to move an inch until she decided she was done. So, I gave the whole class 20 seconds to be all cleaned up and read for writing. Naturally, I started counting down...20, 19, 18...When I got to 5, 4, 3, ... Shot-put was flaming mad...2, 1, 0..sure enough, from a lying down position, she threw her math journal from the floor to the other side of the room where it landed in somebody's lap! This girl is a beast! After a few moments of dead silence and Shot-put slamming her body down in her chair, I calmly told her what needed to happen (calm down in a quiet place in the room) and she followed directions! Later, I considered asking her if she knew what a shot-put was but decided I had better not foster that skill until she actually has the ball rather than class objects to practice with!
On Thursday Shot-put was angry all day about something that happened at home so I had been watching her constantly be on edge with her peers and myself. By 2:00 she had had enough! I needed all of them to clean up their math and get ready for writing. They had adequate time but Shot-put was not going to move an inch until she decided she was done. So, I gave the whole class 20 seconds to be all cleaned up and read for writing. Naturally, I started counting down...20, 19, 18...When I got to 5, 4, 3, ... Shot-put was flaming mad...2, 1, 0..sure enough, from a lying down position, she threw her math journal from the floor to the other side of the room where it landed in somebody's lap! This girl is a beast! After a few moments of dead silence and Shot-put slamming her body down in her chair, I calmly told her what needed to happen (calm down in a quiet place in the room) and she followed directions! Later, I considered asking her if she knew what a shot-put was but decided I had better not foster that skill until she actually has the ball rather than class objects to practice with!
October 22, 2007 at 8:00 AM
Maybe I could send a foam ball for shot put to use daily to practice for her middle/high school years at the track :) we could be encouraging a future Olypian. I know she can throw farther than her teacher did in her day. :)