I still remember my associates teacher words in teachers college, love every student. I know its simple but it is also hard to follow up on sometimes.
Now I am not saying that as teachers we don't, we all came into this profession because we love kids but I also know that as the year goes on there are students that can just bug or irritate us just so and we cannot wait to the year ends.
Lately I have been reading some books by Dr Greene Ross, the explosive child and lost at school. This has been mainly because of my daughter who I know is one of those kids that by the end of the year we just can't wait to have a break from. I mean I want that break and she is my kid. However, as I have been reading my daughter has a lot of lagging social skills that need to be developed. We all know that ALL kids want to be good.
Take a look at this sheet.
It was developed by Dr. Greene to help identify the types of problems that a child may have. This is the first step to Plan B as he calls it.
Plan B is where you collaboratively with the students to solve problems. Once you identify the problems you can then start the empathy stage. Here you seek the students perspective. It is important that we do not force our perspective. At this stage we are just hearing the child out. It is also important to note that this stage may take time. Many kids are not familiar with being asked what they think is up. Once you identify the concern, re-voice to see if it truly is the problem. Then state your concern and seek help to solve it. The last note is that this does take time but in the end you save time because you are solving problems.
This year I plan to do this with my whole class and have a whole class collaborative problem solving period every week and maybe more if we need it.
I think about all of the students that I have had in the past and how even though I thought I was talking it was me telling. So as you start your week out, getting to know your students academically don't forget the social side. Remember that ALL students want to be good just many don't know how.
