Huck

I got a new student.  He was in my class for two days.  The honeymoon period is now over.

Teachers have to document when they place hands on a child.  Here's my documentation:

-8:25 - 8:35:  Huck refused to do his do now.  Mr. Duyan tried to
explain what he needed to be doing (told him exactly what to write on
his paper.)  Would not pick up a pencil to do work.
-8:35 - 8:45:  Check-ins.  Huck would not check in about his weekend,
but sat in a circle with the group and was attentive.  Received
tickets and praise.
-8:45 - 8:55:  Students pair up to ask each other "matching questions"
about their weekends.  Huck participated fully.  Received tickets and
praise.
-8:55 - 9:15:  Students worked on packet about self-awareness,
self-monitoring, and self control.  I was checking in one-on-one with
kids, having them set goals and pick matching actions for the week.
Huck refused to complete packet; refused to check-in with me.
   1)  I reminded Huck that if he wanted to go to 3rd period in Ms.
Dell's, he would have to do his work
   2)  Rewarded and praised Huck for picking up his pencil (which he
then broke in half)
   3)  Gave a new pencil; told him he had 5 seconds to pick up his
pencil and begin writing; counted down and walked away; Huck laughed,
called me a baby, and began coloring on the desk.

2nd period:
-After the 5 minute passing period, I asked Huck what he was trying
to accomplish by calling me a baby.  He said he wanted to go to Ms.
Dell's room.  I told him that if he did work for the following 5
minutes, and stopped calling names, he would be allowed to go.  Huck
started folding his papers into paper airplanes.  After not receiving
a response from myself or Mr. Black, Huck began saying, "This is baby
work.  You must be a baby," to the student behind him.  I told Huck
to leave the group.  He refused.  I counted down.  He laughed and
called me a bitch.  I picked up his back-pack and carried it to the
back.  Huck followed.  Huck began throwing books across the room.  I
went over and told him to stop.  He said something to the effect of
*Now you have to send me to the office, fucking bitch* and kicked me
in the shin.

I made the decision not to send him to the office because his
behaviors were clearly intended to get him sent to the office.  After
10 minutes of throwing books and receiving no response from the
teachers or students, he got up and began picking up the keyboard of
the computer.  Mr. Black went over and took the keyboard out of Huck's
hands.  Huck repeatedly told Mr. Black, "Go fuck a dick, you black
man," and kicked Mr. Black.

3rd period:
-I stayed in the classroom with Huck during 3rd period.  He spent the
majority of the period cussing at me and throwing books, though the
only response I made to his behavior was to point to the board where
the expectations were written.  At 11:03, Huck was sitting quietly.
I was able to have a conversation with him about where he lived, and
about how to make friends.  He remained calm until the end of the
period.

4th period:
-My students entered my classroom.  Huck began trying to run out the
door.  I stood by the door.  Huck began to cuss, calling me a baby
and a fucking bitch.  I told Huck to look around - that the students
were acting the right way to get what they wanted (like going to Ms.
Dell's class.)  I told Huck that if he sat in the back quietly for
5 minutes and then allowed me to help him use some strategies to calm
down, he would earn being able to go to Ms. Huck's class.  Huck
started walking to the back, then ran over to the door.  When I stood
in front of the door and told him to go sit down, he began kicking me,
elbowing me, and punching me.  I reminded Huck that I video tape each
of my classes.  He took the video camera off my desk, and began trying
to erase the footage (I didn't think he was - but he was successful,
aside from one short clip.)  Huck spent the rest of the period hiding
behind student desks and running for the door when he thought I wasn't
looking.  When 4th period ended, I attempted to open the door for the
rest of my students to leave.  Huck began kicking me in the shin
again.  I held him in one of my arms in attempt to stop him from
kicking me.  He dropped to the floor (dead weight) and then ran out
the door.

Jay

I went to Italy over Christmas Break.  We watched a lot of Game of Thrones whilst waiting out the jetlag.  In the process, a character named Grumpkin was developed.  In the show, a Grumpkin is an evil creature that lives in the uninhabited lands.  In Italy, a Grumpkin was a nice way to let the other one know that he or she was acting like an asshole.  I decided to bring this idea into my classroom.  On Monday we made miniature representations of ourselves with removable heads.  We developed a number of evil villains (like "Distraction Man.")  When an evil villain "hijacks" one of the kid's brains, we take the head off the kid's "mini-me".  So fun!

I asked the kids to make accurate representations of themselves.

-Jay:  "I'm done!"

-Ms. C:  "Excellent! ... Jay... What's that above your lip?"

-Jay:  "A mustache."

(Jay is 11 years old.  He hardly grows enough hair on his head to qualify as a hairdo, nevermind facial hair.)

-Ms. C:  "Jay... remember when I said that I wanted your mini-me to be an accurate representation?  Did you understand what I meant?"

-Jay:  "Yeah.  You said no blue hair, or, like, green faces.  You said you wanted our mini-mes to look like us."

-Ms. C:  "Right.  So... Jay... are you sure you have a mustache?"

-Jay:  "Yeah!!"  (Draws his finger across his upper lip.)  "Right here."

-Ms. C:  "Hmmm... Jay... Let me get you a mirror."

(Jay looks in the mirror)

-Ms. C:  "So... Jay... Are you SURE you have a mustache?"

-Jay:  "Yeah!!"  (Draws his finger across his upper lip.)  "See!?!"

(Jay has less hair on his upper lip than a sorority girl after a fresh wax.)

-Ms. C:  "Jay... most people don't get mustaches until about 25-years-old."

-Jay (shrugs):  "I'm lucky."

-Ms. C:  "Jay... let me show you some pictures of people with mustaches."

(Thank you google)

-Ms. C:  "So... see, Jay... you don't have a mustache yet.  You might someday, but not yet.  So, you should erase the mustache on your mini-me."

-Jay:  "...To make it accurate!"

(10 minutes later)

-Jay:  "I'm done!"

-Ms. C:  "Jay... what's that?"

-Jay:  "A beard."

Sigh

Check-Ins

My kids don't always get the fact that things happen that make us feel a certain way.  Mr. Duyan and I went to a training that told us to do check-ins in the morning to help the kids make this connection.  As stated by the facilitator (and restated by me a number of times), the whole point of the activity is to grasp and articulate the cause/effect relationship between events that happen in our lives, and the way they make us feel.  To help the kids, I printed out little cards with pictures of different emoticons.  We all choose a card and then explain why we chose the card:

12/16 - Check-ins

-Marvin:  "I picked this card" (holding card so only he can see it) "because I don't want Ms. C to go to Italy.  The plane is going to crash."

-Ms. C:  "I am pretty afraid of flying, Marvin, but most planes don't crash.  And what about YOU?  What's happening in YOUR life?  How are YOU feeling today?"

-Marvin:  "Oh.  Good."  (Shrugs shoulders and nods head)

-Colin:  "This one time, I went on a plane, and I was scared it was going to crash, but then it didn't, and I faced my fears, and that's what you should do Marvin, you should go on an airplane and face your fears, so then you won't be scared about Ms. C crashing anymore."

-Rick:  "Can I go next?  I picked the joyful card because I'm excited to be here with all of you, my friends, and all of my great teachers before the break."

-Ms. C:  "Rick, it's okay to say you're excited to have two weeks off school."

-Marvin:  "Really?!  Isn't that, just like, just like, jerk?"

-Ms. C:  "Nope. Most people feel excited to have time off work."

-Rick:  "Feew.  Yeah.  I can't wait to get the heck out of here today.  Sorry to say the 'h' word."

-Dash:  "Me too.  I can't wait to not have to see you guys for two weeks."

-Ms. C:  "Too far, Dash, too far.  It's okay to say you're excited for time off of an activity - activities don't have feelings.  We do."

-Dash:  "I was kidding!"

-Colin:  "Mr. Duyan... you go next."

-Mr. Duyan:  "I feel cathy today" (shows card) "and I don't have to say why."

-Al:  (raises hand) "What does cathy mean?"

-Mr. Duyan:  "You know... cathy."

-Ms. C:  "Mr. Duyan, can you explain what that word means."

-Mr. Duyan:  (sigh) "Cathy is a comic strip character.  She is a young woman who encounters many obstacles as she's trying to make her way through the business world.  She often feels discombobulated, but she is able to push on... and I'm not going to explain why I feel that way."

...I think we're canceling check-ins.

Napoleon Dynamite

Last week I was reminded that the movie Napoleon Dynamite is a GOLD MINE for social awkwardness (thanks Ms. Glee!)  Being the week before Christmas vacation, I've decided to take a break from the strenuous social skills practice that I force my kids to endure and, instead, we are writing letters to Napoleon to help him be less of a target*.

Today, as we're sitting in class watching a clip from the movie, Dash's eyes get really big.  Slowly, he looks from the movie screen, to Mr. Duyan, back to the movie screen, and his little jaw drops in disbelief.

Mr. Duyan IS Napoleon Dynamite.

*Target:  "Someone that gives people a lot of weird thoughts, so people are mean to him and sometimes we throw things at him.  Target."  -Jon

T-Shirt Tissues and Other Issues

Other Issues:

My students came in today, took their seats, and began silently working on their Do Nows like they have every morning since August.  Usually, at this point in the morning, Mr. Black is helping make copies, I am checking student progress, and Mr. Duyan is awkwardly pacing in the back of the room, often facing the corner (no joke.)  Today, however, Mr. Duyan decided to put himself to use... straightening the desks... while the kids were in them... trying to do their work... (Take a second to picture it.  You won't be sorry.)

This is when I began to notice that every single one of my students is sick right now.

T-Shirt Tissues:

When my students sneeze, they blow snot EVERYWHERE.  It is absolutely incredible.  It's not just a little snot bubble.  We're talking full snot fountains.  I've never seen anything like it...

...So, after watching my kids sneeze all morning and imagining the snot slip-and-slide that would be my room by the end of the day, I decided to address the issue.  Now, I have yet to figure out what they're doing differently that causes them to blow their snot all over the place rather than keep it in their heads like "normal" people do, so I decided to approach the matter from the "how to deal with it" angle:
1)  If you feel a sneeze coming, get a tissue and sneeze into the tissue
2)  If you can't get a tissue fast enough, sneeze into your hands, but then don't touch anything or show anyone until you get a tissue and wash your hands

Here's where Mr. Duyan decided he had some authority on the matter:

-Mr. Duyan:  "No no.  They need to be sneezing into their shoulders." (*GOD!  DUH!*)

-Ms. Cole (thinking - *Have you seen them sneeze?!?!  They blow snot EVERYWHERE! You're going to tell them to sneeze into their CLOTHING?!  Are you freaking JOKING?!*):  "I'm gonna go ahead and nix that strategy.  Let's stick with tissue or hands."

-Mr. Duyan:  "I really have to insist.  Sneezing into your shoulder is the more anatomically correct methodology."

(*Really... there's an anatomically correct way to sneeze?!  Really?!*)

-Ms. Cole (Calling Mr. Duyan over to the side of the classroom and whispering):  "So, if they sneeze into their hands, they can wash them.  If they sneeze into their sleeves, they are going to have snot all over their sleeves all day." (*And P.S. If you EVER use valuable class time in order to argue with me again, I swear to god I will tell Jon to hide your friggin car keys!*)

By the way, if anyone has suggestions on how to teach sneezing without projectile snotting, I would really appreciate it!

Are. You. Kidding.

Hi Ms. C!

Happy Wednesday! I am a Clinical Director at Ed Supports services and
wanted to check in with you re: a couple of things. I am sorry we haven't
had time to meet face to face- have been running around a bit in other ASC
classrooms, putting out fires, helping to organize, etc.

We are giving a training on 11/30 after school from 2-5 at Foster re: a
specific social skills program for ASC that can be implemented in many
situations. We are also providing staffing in ASC classrooms to help
facilitate these skills. Would love to touch base with u re: you and your
staff attending(it is in lieu of the regular training)and other ways we
can assist in your classroom.

I could stop by your class briefly on Friday if you'd like an/or the week
we return.

Thanks!




Dear K,
    I have spent the last three years designing, collecting resources for, and effectively implementing my own social skills curriculum for ASC.  In fact, many of the resources Ed Supports has distributed in the past have come from my curriculum.  I would love to collaborate, and am always interested in new resources, but find a three hour training on how to use my own materials a bit unnecessary.  Please let me know if you think those three hours will be a good use of my time.  
   When I was offered support in the past there was no follow through, and it has been very frustrating to repeatedly be offered resources, only to ultimately end up making them myself.  I think we're doing very well in terms of social skills here at BH so please feel free to spend your time following through in the classrooms that might need more support.  I know that I would have loved the additional support during my first year in ASC.


Thank you.

The New Rick

Last year Rick always did what he thought would make people like him more.  Always.  He would make things up if he thought it would impress someone.  And he would always do what the teacher asked... always.  Now, adults title this behavior "People-Pleasing."  Middle schoolers title it "Ass-Kissing."  Rick was every teachers' favorite student, and every students' favorite kid to bully.

Meet:  The New Rick

-9:25pm; Test Message from Mr. Black:  "So I asked Rick why he hasn't been changing into his P.E. clothes."

-9:27pm; Text from Ms. C:  "Oh!  Thanks so much for following up with that!  What'd he say?"

-9:30pm; Text from Mr. Black:  "'didn't get dressed 'cuz I didn't feel like it.  You heard me.'"

-9:32pm; Text from Ms. C:  "Fuck."

-9:35; Text from Mr. Black:  "Count it as a success.  We taught him to pick up on social cues... we've turned him into a normal punk ass seventh grader."

Great.