thanks to you and a story

Well, it's time for a wednesday/thursday update. I've spent two weeks blogging posts that I deem too much to post, so it's time to say thanks to the folks who have helped me through being a despairful teacher. I'm feeling a lot more at ease with myself in the classroom and I am slowly seeing the difference in my kids and the activities I plan. Things are working better. Meetings are going more smoothly. Transitions are happening because I don't stress about transitions happening.

Today I set limits for a 3.5 who has been very silly in the classroom and has trouble with the keep your whole body to yourself rule. She hadn't really had a time out before. She was flailing around with our peace flower and I asked her twice to get control and find work. Very calm. Very matter of fact. She was still reeling around when I asked her to come talk to me, so I approached her and took her hand and told her she had a time out. (Not a big deal in our class, you sit out for 2 minutes.)

"I am holding your hand because you are walking away when I am talking to you.
If I let go, can you stand still?"

She does.

"I am asking you to sit down in our time out spot. I would like you to walk there on your own. Can you do that?"

She does. I follow behind her. She makes it there on her own. My insides are jumping with glee, coz this is a little chica that likes the word "no" and it hasn't popped out once yet!!!

"You sit here for 2 minutes. When 2 minutes is up, you can go find a job. I will tell you when 2 minutes is up." [I'm looking for a sand timer so they can self-monitor...]

So here it gets wonky. She gets to the spot, but she doesn't want to sit on it. She gets this pouty look that must work on someone at home. She makes some whimpering sounds. She kind of hunches "near" the spot, then moves on her knees to the closest table where a friend is working. I'm not having it. When I see her off the spot, I so calmly go over towards her, look her right in the eye and say,

"You sit down HERE (gesture), and after two minutes you can go find a job. Two minutes starts when you are sitting in this spot."

Okay. So she sits. But she's touching stuff on the wall. I ask her to put back the stuff and wind up taking it out of her hands [this works with 3s, but not much older], and bygolly she starts sitting without touching. She probly makes it about 1.5 min and I call the 2, because she doesn't have a lot of limits at home and it was late in the day and I wanted this to be successful. But, she made it.

So interesting. She was, like, hungry for the control of being made to sit. Her body really was out of control before the time out. And she was tired and stressed and this was really a healthy thing for her. She was much more balenced after that and really behaved in the meeting time. Better than usual!

Yay! for when things work. And Yay for when they don't, coz that's how you learn!

I need to start recording this stuff beyond my blog though. Maybe 10 minutes of notes at the end of a day.