Shonda is right to remind us of things that we can do to deal with
difficult/disruptive chidren. I have often neglected to do these
things. Mostly time has been the issue as the amount of students,
classes, etc. make it difficult to be on top of every situation. (I
had more than one school for the first 11 years, so time definitely
was a major problem!) But it is helpful to work to build rapport with
problem students as sees them weekly from PreK-5, as most of us do,
unless they move away, that is, (but our kids usually come back and
sometimes starting over has helped, too!)
I think that the classroom teacher is the key in many situations (not
always). Using the same expressions such as "do you want to turn a
card when you get back to the classroom" or counting to five or
saying "do you want to sit by yourself at table 7" or telling a grade
K student that you will IM their teacher sometimes helps as the
student knows that the classroom teacher and media specialist are
working together. The behavior notebook actually helps the teacher,
too, when talking to parents as the same things are documented in
art, music, library and phys ed in many cases. Somewhere I picked up
the expression, "three strikes and you're in."I try to keep kids in
when I can, but lunch duty and other scheduled classes don't always
make that easy (although most 5th grade students don't want to sit in
and have the first grade class wonder why they are there...)
But there are always a couple of kids every year that get on one's
last nerve, as the saying goes. I find the students who constantly
pick on each other sometimes more aggravating than the disruptive
ones.There certainly have been years when I counted down the amount
of time that I would see the fifth grade classes and I can relate to
what Robert said only too closely. Fortunately, this year has not
been one of them! There is one coming up soon, I think!
But in the end, you just have to do the best that you can.
If it is any consolation, I have found by experience, many of the
problem students have actually come back to our building as better
parents than we ever expected. When I see one parent walk in the
door, I think of the special desk that I had moved into my then even
smaller library classroom just for him! But you would never know that
he was the same ornery kid!
Deb Hendrickson
Deborah J. Hendrickson
Teacher-Librarian & Technology Leader
Westernport Elementary School
172 Church Street
Westernport, MD 21562
301-359-0511(phone) 301-359-0411 (fax)
DHendrickson@allconet.org
http://boe.allconet.org/wt/
On Jun 10, 2007, at 12:06 PM, Shonda Brisco wrote:
> I wanted to share a bit more information (and to respond to a
> negative, personal email that suggested that I was attacking Robert
> for his actions--???) about my questions about the misbehaviors in the
> library. I had a few groups of 5th and 6th graders (different
> classes) that had some students who would try their best to be
> disruptive this year, too.
>
> The first thing I did was check to see if these students were on an
> IEP (after working with special needs children for over 10 years, I
> find it's a habit now to be certain that I'm addressing the
> instructional needs of the student correctly). As it turned out,
> about 10% of the student population who visited the library was on an
> IEP and many of my behavior problems WERE on an IEP with behavioral
> intervention strategies. Once I had copies of these IEPs and knew
> what I needed to do with some of the students, I talked with the
> teachers to see how they were handling the problems in the classroom.
> To make the procedures consistent, we had a behavioral notebook that
> the students brought with them to class and to the library. When they
> misbehaved, we made notations of the incident and dated them. The
> teacher would handle the punishments (if there were any) once the
> student returned to the classroom---often this meant missing recess,
> staying later or coming in earlier for extra work, etc. These went to
> the parent to review and later discuss.
>
> While these helped with the documentation of behavioral problems, some
> of the more personal and interactive things that I did included asking
> the student to stay after class (or come in later) to talk with ME.
> One student came by after misbehaving one day and his behavior was
> entirely different alone than it was while "on stage" in front of his
> peers. Obviously, he loved the attention. So, I told him that he
> wasn't being punished, but rather that I needed him to help me with a
> project. He would be helping me with setting up some displays in the
> morning during announcement time (a "down-time" for homeroom that the
> teacher allowed me to take him for about 20 minutes). The student
> came in during the 20 minutes to work with me (often staying a little
> later because he didn't want to leave) on different library displays,
> projects, and later, even shelving. What I discovered was he wanted
> "attention" from someone and he'd use his behavior to get it.
>
> Since the laser scanner was always a "big thing" for the students, I
> showed him (and later about four other misbehaving students) how to
> check books in and out. He was the one who showed the others how to
> shelve some of the books, and would be the leader rather than the
> trouble-maker. (Once during a project, he even scolded a group for
> shoving the books back on the shelves, telling them that he didn't
> like straightening them later. They listened, of course, because he
> was the "bouncer-type" in his class. I giggled inside, thinking I'd
> just hired my own "library bouncer".)
>
> I'd share with him and the others all the NEW books---as poor readers,
> they were also the ones who loved the "Bone" series by Jeff Smith, so
> they were the first to check out those books. The interesting thing
> was that they brought the books back on time so they could get the
> next one in the series...and once when I was doing a book talk about
> the new titles, I asked this boy to tell the class about the series
> (he did with enthusiasm--- and in the other classes, I had another
> library trouble-maker / helper who gave a lengthy talk about the Bone
> series which sparked a lot of interest from my boys.)
>
> At the end of the school year, I told all of my library worker /
> trouble-makers that they had done a great job and gave them each $10
> worth of free books from the bookfair (from my profits). Since it was
> buy-one-get-one free fair, they were choosing the Bone series (getting
> two books each) and two boys who lived next door to one another even
> figured out if they each took two different titles, they could share
> them over the summer and read them all.
>
> I think the success for me was the behavioral changes because I didn't
> fight them, but used them to work with me on projects that I needed in
> the classroom. They became the leaders (which I know can sometimes
> backfire), but with this "younger group" I was hoping that the "child
> inside" would come forward rather than the "mishaving teen" that was
> trying to emerge. Looking back, I remember that two of the boys were
> almost intimidating and I felt that they would definitely be problems
> for someone in high school one day. By the time school ended, my
> opinions changed because I realized that these kids came from
> situations that weren't good and had little interaction with adults
> who worked with them one-on-one.
>
> I also had to laugh at one of the boys. He came by on the last day of
> school with an envelope. His mom had written a very sweet note to me
> about taking the time to work with her son and how much she
> appreciated it...and the books! She said that he would definitely
> keep reading them because he LOVED that "weird book" so much! (I had
> met his mom only once during an Open House--- the entire family looked
> "rough and mean"....but at least they were at school that night!)
>
> As the boy handed me the envelope he blushed (which was a surprise)
> and said, "Thanks for everything, Mrs. B....I hope you like to
> gamble!" After he left, I opened the envelope and read the card from
> his mom, then realized there was also a "$1 lottery scratch card"
> inside. I laughed...scratched the card...didn't win anything
> there...but realized that my "gamble" had paid off with this kid.
> Hopefully, another librarian or teacher will see beyond this tough
> exterior and find "the child inside" who is eager to please and do the
> right thing.
>
>
> ~Shonda
>
> --
> Shonda Brisco, MLIS
> Library Media / Technology Specialist
> Digital Bookends wiki / blog:
> http://digitalbookends.pbwiki.com
> http://shonda.edublogs.org/
> sbrisco@gmail.com
>
> "Digital Resources" columnist
> School Library Journal
>
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