Katie put a booger on my chair!!
As designated chair inspector for the day, I pointed out
that the indicated booger on his chair was just a scuff mark.
“It’s NOT A
BOOGER! Now let’s get back to work and quit tattling!”
At first impressions, it appeared that the short, cute
little girl was being picked on and bullied by some of the other kids in the
classroom. But after the first half dozen, tattletale complaints, I started
watching Katie with more than the usual frequency of required scrutiny. Initial impressions can be wrong.
It’s the second day in this classroom and I’m see that “they” aren’t picking on Katie, SHE is picking on “them”!!
Katie goes out of her way to tick off as many
of her classmates as possible in the most irritating ways and she’s very
sneaky about doing it!
When she thinks I’m not looking in her direction and she’s
off on the next quest to push some buttons. If she’s not constantly blowing her
nose and pretending to wipe it on chairs, desks and bodies on her way to the
trash can, she’s snatching anything that isn’t nailed down off/under/around the
desks of other kids as she wanders the room.
Katie (not her real name) is a 3rd grader at the country
club school just up the road from where I live. She is having a hard time
making friends. It’s pretty easy to see why.
When I had a chance, I called her over for a quite conference
to point out that I was aware of some of the things she was doing.
K: Nobody likes
me.
Me: Why do you
think that?
K: (shrugs)
Me: Do you think
maybe that when someone takes things without asking might not be the best way
to “borrow” stuff?
K: (nods yes)
Me: Katie, can
you see how words like ‘please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘May I’ might help you to
make friends.
K: I don’t have
any friends.
Me: No friends at
all?
K: (she nods the
affirmative).
Me: Don’t you
want to have friends?
K: (another nod).
Me: Do you see how
taking other kids’ things and putting pretend boogers on peoples’ stuff might
not seem “friendly”?
K: (another nod)
Me: So why don’t
we try to do the ‘friendly’ thing and “ask” permission before “borrowing” stuff
and also stop putting pretend boogers on people.
Do you think that might work?
K: (smiles and
nods again)
Me: Let’s get
back to work, OK?
As she makes her way back to her chair, I watch as she
snatched a pencil off the first unattended desk she passed.
My end of day report, including observations about Katie,
was probably not new information to the teacher.
6 comments:
Sounds like a junior I teach. I know he has been told the same comments often - but sees no reason to change.
I recently finished a several week job, and I could swear that I had that exact same girl in on of my classes, except she was in 7th grade.
I am a pre-service teacher and I know I may end up working as a substitute at some point. Do most students still behave well when you sub for their teacher? Any suggestions about what to really look out for as a substitute teacher?
I have seen students like this before while I do observations. There is a little boy, we can call him Jim, who does the same thing, however, it is takedn to a whole other level. Jim is a 5th grader who goes home to his parents and tells them how he is bullied. The principal has gotten involved, and also agrees that it is Jim's fault because he is the real bully. At this point all Jim's teachers and the principal just take it day by day and hope that this problem doesnt escalade.
This was cute. it is amazing working with children. we try to help them as much as we can and with their little personalities they do what they want anyway. so much for effort... cute story though
Try asking these students what they think THEY can do to remedy a situation. You essentially told her the solution, which doesn't result in learning or ownership of a solution.
Post a Comment