How can you reason with that? You can't. So...I just stopped trying. I'm not going to argue with him. I'm not going to berate him. I'm pretty much going to ignore him. Wait, let me rephrase that: I'm going to ignore his antics. The singing. The banging. The dancing. The screaming. See, Julio does his work; he just doesn't do it at the same time or in the same manner as everyone else, because Julio thinks he is Justin Bieber and has to schedule his schoolwork around his concert performances of "Baby" (now playing at a classroom rug near you). Any antics can't ignore, I either (a) address in a supernaturally calm voice or (b) pick up the phone and call my AP, my guidance counselor or the office...whoever picks up the phone and will send someone to come get him. (Recently, a school aide burst into our room asking, "Where is he?" 27 pairs of eyes immediately slid over to the closed bathroom door, where Julio had barricaded himself and was loudly banging out the rhythm to "We Will Rock You." "What's he doing in there?" the school aide demanded. I shrugged. Lady, if I knew that, I'd either be making a lot more money or we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.)
Julio isn't getting placed in 12:1:1 by the end of the year -- I believe the guidance counselor's exact words were "You're stuck with him until the end of the year, I'm so sorry." So I have developed an attitude of Zenlike patience and calm. The mantra that goes with it sounds like this: Eighteen more days, eighteen more days, eighteen more days...
5 comments:
Dear Miss Brave,
Oh, eighteen more days. You are so good.
Ann T.
How do the other children in your room respond to Julio's antics, I wonder? And would it have made a difference to their progress this year if you didn't have to compete with Julio for their attention?
Regretfully one child can have a negative impact on a classroom environment. I see it each and everyday. I bet Ms. Brave does her best to provide all her children with equal attention. Ugh, it is so difficult sometimes.
Robert -- The answer to your question is something I've posted about quite frequently and something that's created a fair amount of controversy in the comments -- if you poke around a bit in old entries you should be able to see the whole debate!
But to answer your question: My class is remarkably adept at ignoring Julio except when his actions become either (a) overwhelmingly loud or (b) threatening to their personal property (today he came close to breaking another student's art project, which would not have been pretty).
Would things be different, and quite probably easier, if I didn't have to compete with Julio for attention? Well, of course, abso-freaking-lutely. But you know what they say...if my bubbe had wheels, she'd be a trolley!
My heart goes out to you - it's tough dealing with a kid like that. I am an ATR covering a second grade (for a retiring teacher who is running out her sick bank) and I have about 4 kids like Julio in this class. And I started out teaching HS English, and have never had lower than 7th grade as a Literacy Specialist. So a class of 2nd grade behavior problems is, well...
Yes, 18 more days!
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