Tuesday 28 January 2014

Kicking the year off

Today was the first of our two call back days and we begun by looking at the school behaviour management systems, namely the Reflection Room and whether this 'time out' was really working for some kids.
There is one kid in my class (shall we say X) who I will have again this year and I know that I am going to have to work hard with X to make sure they begin the year in a positive way. They were a frequent visitor of the Reflection Room and I know that this was not seen as a major consequence to them, however I continued to use it out of fairness to the rest of the class that should X disrupt our learning then they too would go to the Reflection Room. Last year the rest of the class had given X chance after chance to change their behaviour and through the power of Restorative Practice the rest of the class (who were victims at time to X's disruptive behaviour) told them that they had used up all of their chances and that they were sick of hearing empty promises. I know that it could now be very easy for my Year 4's who were X's classmates last year to view X in the same way as they did come the end of last year, not really giving them a chance of a New Year Fresh Start approach. So I am going to have to model giving this person a chance. I will continue to touch base with X before school and build that relationship but I also hope that by giving X some responsibilities they will rise to the idea of being a Year 4 and therefore having to be a role model to others in the class.

I know that X loves technology so what responsibilities could I give X around this?

Maybe...
-It is X's responsibility to turn the class computers on each morning and shut them down at the end of the day.
-Help the techsperxs (if not one themself) to turn and log computers on in the ICT suite at the beginning of our allocated time.
-X is often one of the first at school is there something X could do around organising her equipment for learning and encouraging others to do the same. X could be my little parrot. Have you put your chair down? Have you got a sharp pencil ready? Have you looked at the board to see what book you will need out first?This could have the positive spin off of everyone being ready at 9am and me not having to remind. Once everyone becomes better managers themselves and automatically does this could X look for the best table before 9am?
-Could they be my eagle eye to look out for who is being a powerful learner and what they are doing that makes them a powerful learner to give a spotted card to. Maybe encouraging her to look for the powerful learners will somehow mean that she starts modelling/mimicking their behaviour.
I am going to consciously schedule time into my programme to look at teach pro social skills using ideas I have found on Pinterest and through programmes like the Stop Think Do book. This should hopefully help X become a positive classroom member along with the rest of the class.

Do you have any other good ways to make a child feel special and needed through little jobs in your class?

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