Incident #1 Cell Phone
A. October 23,2008
B. 4th lunch
C. I was on my way back to my classroom when I came across a group of male student standing out in the breezeway. When the students are at lunch they are not allowed to leave the cafeteria and these guys were out in the breezeway. I decided to redirect them back into the cafeteria. When I got closer to the group I noticed that one guy was texting on his cell phone. I asked him to give me his phone and he refused. I told him that since he is refusing that he would need to go with me to the office. On the way to the office I explained to him that a refusal to give up a cell phone resulted in an automatic 2 days ISS. I asked him if he had ever been in ISS and he said that he hadn't. Then I told him to get prepared to sit on tiny stools until 5 o'clock. He was quiet the rest of the way. Once we got to the office, I had him sign in and sit down. I began to fill out his referral and he came back up to me and told me that he didn't want to go to ISS so he wanted to give me his phone. At this point I had already finished the referral. I told him that he was already too late because it was already written. I asked him why he didn't give me the phone in the first place. He explained that he didn't have $15 to get his cell phone back. Then he told me that he had a bad experience with another teacher and thought I was going to be mean like her. As a result he immediately gave me an attitude. Once I started talking to him I began to realize he was not a bad student. He actually was quite a pleasant young man. I told him that I know he isn't a bad student, but that he just made a bad decision. I told him that if he had just handed it over to me in the first place we wouldn't have had a confrontation and he could have seen that I wasn't a mean teacher.
D. Once he gave me his phone I sealed it in the white envelope which is our policy regarding the procedures for cell phones. I then added to his referral that he did give me the phone. Since he eventually gave it to me I am hoping that the office will only give him a detention since it was his first offense.
E. After this incident happened I walked back to my room and I felt horrible. If this student and I had met under a different circumstance I think we would have gotten along well. I felt that I shouldn't have acted so "pushy" about him giving me his cell phone. I think that if I tried to counsel with him a little better on the way to the office instead of using my sarcasm then he might have given me the phone earlier. I think that once I talked to him about his decision I feel that we bonded. When we parted ways I told him to have a great day and he told me the same. I think if I see him again we might exchange greetings.
Incident #2 Cell Phone
A. October 29, 2008
B. End of 1st period
C. I was leaving the library when came across a group of students walking towards me. One of the students had her cell phone out and when she saw me she quickly shoved the cell phone in her shirt. I approached the young lady and asked her to hand me her phone. She walked past me like she didn't even hear me. I stepped in front of her and tried to direct her to the office. She started yelling, "don't touch me.". I informed the young lady that I had no desire to touch her and that I just needed her to walk with me to the office. She kept trying to walk around me so I put my arms up to block her. She kept trying until finally she figured out that I was not going to give up so finally she gave up. She began walking slowly behind me as we walked towards the office. On the way to the office she managed to pick up a friend who she carried a conversation with all the way to the office. I kept reminding her that we were headed to the office because she kept walking at an angle away from where I was going. She of course let me know that she knew where we were going. I believe that she managed to pass her phone off to the friend because I later found out she no longer had the cell phone in her possession. Once we entered the office she refused to sign in. She just stood in the middle of the office. I asked her 3 times to sign in and she kept arguing that she didn't have a cell phone so she wasn't going to sign anything. When I got closer to her she again kept yelling, "Don't touch me!!" I reminded her, again, that I had no intention on touching her. She created such a scene in the office that the secretaries called for the SROs to come to the office. Once they got there they saw what I was dealing with in there. They explained to her whether she was in trouble or not it was procedure that anytime a student comes to the office they must show they were there by signing in. She again refused to sign the sheet. We asked her what her name was and she refused to give it to us. Eventually after about 10 minutes of arguing with her they got her to sign in. When she signed in she just stood at the counter. We asked her to have a seat and again she refused. I had to write her up for insubordination and disrespect to school personnel. Since she didn't give me her name I walked over to where she signed in. I stood close to her because I knew she was trying to intimidate me and I was going to let her know that she was not scaring me. I put my paper right next to her as I began copying her name and grade on the referral. I placed the completed form in the box and began to walk away. The SROs had to come back and get her to sit down. After about 5 minutes of arguing with them she finally sat down. When I left the office she stared me down. So I looked in her direction waved and told her to have a nice day.
D. I received a copy of the referral in my box the next day. The referral had another comment added from an administrator. It stated that the administrator was asking her some questions and she told her to get out of her face. So the student was given 1 day of ISS and 5 days of MIC.
E. I can guarantee that this student will hold a grudge against me so all relationships have been affected. If I had to do it over again, I think I wouldn't have used so much sarcasm. I couldn't help, but come back with a smart remark every time she tried to take control of the situation. The sarcasm didn't make matters better. I have taken several classes on Love & Logic and I couldn't even remember then during the heat of this situation. It seems to me that this student doesn't have much respect for herself of others, especially those in authority positions. The way she disobeyed was one thing, but then disobeying the SROs shows me that she has no respect for anyone.
Incident # 3 Cell Phone
A. October 29, 2008
B. During 2nd lunch
C. I was on my way to lunch when I saw a girl walking towards me on her phone. I asked the girl to hand me her phone and she flat out refused. Since I was on my way to lunch I asked her to come with me to my room. There I wrote her name down and told that I would send a referral down for her later. I asked her why she was on her phone and she said that she was trying to get money from her mom for lunch. I sent her on her way and wrote the referral later. I had one of my students walk the referral down to the office later during the period.
D. The student received 2 days of ISS for insubordination. I am sure her record was blocked for $15 since she refused to give it to me. Of course, unless she gave it up to the office.
E. If I could do this over again, I would have escorted her to the office instead of waiting to deal with it later. I think the waiting time for her wasn't best because I am sure after she left my room she got back on her phone.
Incident #4 Cell Phone
A. October 31, 2008
B. During 4B - before pep rally
C. I was walking out of CMC and I saw a group of students just standing around when they should be headed to the pep rally. In one group of students was one student who was talking on his cell phone. I walked up to him and asked him to hand me his cell phone. He continued to talk on the phone while looking at me in the eyes. It was as if he were letting me know that I wasn't going to be able to take his phone away from him. Once he got off the phone I asked for him to give it to me again. He asked why and I explained to him that it was school policy and he wasn't allowed to use his cell phone. Then he just turned the other direction and ran off down the hallway. I wasn't about to chase him down the hallway so I remembered his face and I was determined to find out who he was. I woke up Monday morning and thought about how I was going to find this student since I didn't know his name. Then when I walked to the office that Monday morning there sat the student. He noticed me first and then he ducked down to hide his face from me. I walked out of the office and it dawned on me who he was. So I walked back into the office and walked over to him. He was in complete shock that I had found him. I asked him what his name was and he told me. I began writing his name down on the referral. He told me he was a freshman so it indicated that on the referral as well. The discipline secretary told me to place his referral in his folder which was already sitting on the top cabinets waiting to see an administrator. When I looked through the folders I couldn't see his name. I then found out he gave me the wrong information. So I took his referral and added that he gave me false identification and lied to me about his name.
D. I am not sure what his consequence was since I left him in the office. I haven't received anything in my box indicating what his discipline was.
E. I don't feel that our relationship was affected because during our discussion in the office I was teasing him about how he ran away from me. He was laughing and carrying on about how he was only protecting his friend's phone from being taken. Since this day happened the student still greets me in the hallway and we joke about how many times he has been to the office since. There really wasn't anything I could have done to make this situation better. I was fortunate to have stumbled into the office to find the student that ran from me sitting in the office.
Incident #5 Tardy
A. November 3, 2008
B. During 3rd period
C. One of my students came in class two minutes after the tardy bell. Since this was his third tardy I had him sign the tardy sheet. I began writing a referral for his tardy since the policy indicates an office referral is to be given. He began to argue with me regarding whether not he was tardy. He argued that he walked in as the bell was ringing when in fact he was late. I told him it was not up for debate so he was just wasting his time. I wrote him up and sent him on his way. He was in the office most of the class period. When he came back to class, he didn't have his referral. He said they were too busy in the office so he was sent back. I checked with the discipline secretary to make sure he was telling the truth. She did verify that he was sent back and would be called down later.
D. The student was called down to the office during 4th period. He was given a 30 minute detention for Wednesday after school.
E. If I had it to do over again I think I would have waited until after lunch. He wasted valuable class time sitting in the office waiting to see an administrator. If I had waited he could have had his classwork completed. There weren't any relationships affected since the student knew that I was right. He understood that I stuck to the policy and followed the proper procedures.
Incident #6 Language
A. November 3, 2008
B. During lunch in the hallway
C. I was walking back from lunch when I heard one of my students cussing while telling a story to one of her friends. I asked my student to come to me as I walked into my room. She didn't come to my room. So I walked outside and didn't see her. I knew what classroom she was in so I walked down the hallway and asked her to come with me. She already knew that she was going to be in trouble and that is why she hid from me. I spoke to her regarding her language and she was very apologetic. She explained to me that she didn't mean to cuss, but she forgot she was at school and the word just "slipped out." I gave her a warning and told her that if I hear her cussing again, either by accident or not, that I was going to write her up and give her a ticket. The next day she stormed into my room and demanded to know why I wrote her up. Apparently another student in my class had told her that I wrote her up for cussing the day before. I informed her that the student she got her information from had no idea what she was talking about and that she had no business coming to me in such a forceful and disrespectful way. I told her that it wasn't her business who I was writing up, but that she was not the one I wrote up. She again was apologetic and made her friend apologize to me for telling her the wrong information.
D. Since I spoke with the student regarding her language and gave her a warning, there were no other consequences. She now knows that if I hear her using obscene language that I will no longer give her a warning and the consequence will be the office.
E. Since she is one of my students the relationship was not affected. I believe that since I gave her a warning I gained her respect and she will know that the next time it happens it was because it was procedure. If I had to do it over again, I might not have given her a warning especially if I had known she would have been so disrespectful the next day.
Incident #7 Skipping
A. November 4, 2008
B. During 4B
C. I was on my way to CMC when I noticed a group of Hispanic students standing around in a circle after the tardy bell rang. I told the crowd to either get to class or leave campus if they had early release. As the crowd began to leave I noticed that one of the students was one of my kids. He is a sophomore and I know that he has a class 4B. He apparently skips 4B every day since it is an outdoor PE class. When I got to CMC I wrote a referral for his skipping. Then I contacted his teacher to let him know.
D. I am not sure of the consequence since the office has been backed up. Some students aren't being seen for a referral from 2 weeks ago. Usually the procedure for skipping is ISS so I am sure that will be his consequence.
E. If I had to do it over again I would have approached the student and either escort him back to his class or to the office. I believe that I have a good rapport with this student. He skips all his other classes, but mine. He comes to me for other problems and he lets me know what is going on in his life. Apparently I am the only teacher he says, "yes ma'am" to. He knows that when I write him up it is because it is my job and not because I don't like him.
Incident #8 Tardy
A. November 5, 2008
B. During 1A
C. One of my students walked into class 5 minutes after the tardy bell. I asked him to sign the tardy sheet which is the procedure for tardies. He began to argue with me that he had just gotten to school and thought that he was supposed to be in ISS. He said that he went to ISS and they told him that he wasn't in ISS that day. So then he came to class. I told him that I was sorry to hear that he was confused, but he still needed to sign the tardy sheet. Then he told me that his bus was late. So I decided that he was just lying to try to get out of signing the tardy sheet. I continued to ask him to sign the tardy sheet. He refused to sign the sheet so I told him it didn't matter whether he signed it or not. He was still going to get a detention for his second tardy. I filled out the tardy sheet and filled out the detention slip. I asked him if he wanted to serve his detention on Tuesday or Thursday and if he wanted to serve it before or after school.
D. The student chose to serve his 30 minute detention before school on Tuesday. I reminded him that the detention will be in ISS and will begin at 8:00 so he needed to be there on time or he will be given another detention, possibly for an hour.
E. For this situation there wasn't anything I would have changed. I think if anything I wouldn't have argued with him about the tardy. I should have used my Love & Logic one liners to keep from engaging in a power struggle.
Incident #9 Cell Phone
A. November 5, 2008
B. Between classes (3rd/4th)
C. I was walking to my next class across campus when I came across 3 students hanging out in the hallway after the tardy bell. I asked them where they were supposed to be and two of them said they were out 4th period. One guy said that he had class down the hall. I asked him 3 times to start going to class and he continued to stand there and ignore me. He took his time kissing his girlfriend and finishing up his conversation. I then informed him that I would personally walk him to class. On our way to his class, he pulled out his cell phone. I asked him to hand me his phone and he refused. He said that he was turning it off. I unlocked his classroom door and walked him in. I asked his teacher for his name and then I looked up his grade. I wrote a referral for disrespect to authority, insubordination, and refusal to give up his cell phone.
D. Since I had class I just dropped his referral off in the office. Usually the procedure for refusal to give up a cell phone is 2 days ISS and the phone is tagged for $15. I found out from his teacher the next day that she had to write him up after I did because he had his phone out and refused to give it to her. However, instead of going to the office like he was supposed to, he threw his referral into the trash and skipped the rest of the period. I received a copy of his referral about 1 week later and he received 5 days of MIC.
E. I believe that I handled this situation well. I followed procedures and instead of the student coming willingly with me he was defiant. I couldn't have done anything differently. Since I didn't know the student there were no relationships affected.
Incident #10 Altercation/Arguing
A. November 7, 2008
B. During 4th period
C. I was working with a student in Content Mastery when another teacher and I heard some commotion out in the breezeway. The other teacher opened the door to check it out and there were two girls arguing and about to start fighting. I told one of the other teachers to call the front desk and report the fight. I immediately went out the door to try to defuse the problem. One of the girls was yelling with her arms sticking out, "come on, b****, I'm here." She went on to say things like "I'm not going anywhere. Come on, let's get this over with right now. I'm not running away." She was yelling at another student who was standing on the other side of the breezeway with her earrings already taken off. They were yelling back and forth threatening each other with fighting. I knew one of the girls so I kept calling her name over and over again to try to get her to look at me and not the other student. I walked in the middle of them and told the girl I knew to go to Content Mastery. All the way into the door she kept on instigating the fight. I stayed out in the hallway with the other girl and talked to her about what had happened. She explained to me that her and this girl have been fighting since the 8th grade and here they were sophomores. Apparently they had already been in a fight 2 weeks earlier and were already sent to MIC and given a ticket. She explained that the other student had been harassing her since school started and tried to fight her until I came out. About 15 minutes later one of the SROs and an administrator walked up to the scene while I was still talking with the one girl. The other teacher and I explained to the what we had seen and what had happened. Before we even told them who the other girl involved was the administrator said, "Let me guess....." then he said her name. They had already known what was going on. We explained to them that the young lady I was talking to was trying to get away from the other girl who kept on trying to fight her. So they told the other teacher to write up everything she saw and turn the referral in to the office. Nothing happened to the girl I was talking to since she did try to get away. I went back into Content Mastery and the girl who was starting the argument asked me if we were writing her up. I explained we were because according to what we witnessed she was instigating the fight while the other one was trying to get away. She explained her side of the story which was totally opposite from the other girl's story. I just explained to her that the office will clear it up and I sent her back to class. I did tell both girls that when anyone says something to them they need to ignore it. I told them to be the better person by just walking away without making any comments.
D. I am not sure what the consequences were since I didn't write the referral. Usually when a referral is written the teacher who wrote the referral gets a copy with the discipline section filled out. I am sure she will get ISS for trying to fight.
E. When I reflect back on the situation I think I did everything correct. I heard the situation esculating and then I defused the problem before it became worse. If I had waited longer then the problem would have been out of control. I am glad that I didn't wait longer. As far as relationships are concerned I am sure that no relationships were affected. I wasn't mean to the girls and I didn't raise my voice. I spoke calmly to the girls and talked to both of them after the situation. I tried to counsel with them the best I could to try to make them understand that fighting does not solve all the world's problems.
II. The Model I Implemented
Discipline Preventive Process
Summary of Model
The Discipline Preventive Process can be described as a classroom management strategy that is aimed at utilizing classroom time effectively by eliminating the down time for students to act out and increases teacher awareness and organization. It eliminates classroom discipline problems by suggesting teachers to organize their lessons before class and take the time to separate and count out worksheets instead of passing them out row by row.
Description of How I Implemented the Strategy
I decided implement a couple of strategies from this behavior model. Usually when I pass out my worksheets, I either have a student pass them out for me or I pass them out by walking to each desk. I discovered that when another student is passing out the papers, I have a tendancy of seeing the student hitting people as he walks by a desk or he is putting the worksheets on someone's head. This in turn results in me having to discipline the student that is supposed to be helping me. When I pass them out I have several students who decide it is "free time" to talk. I decided one day that I would take the time to separate each worksheet into piles. I have 5 rows of desks so I made 5 piles of papers. As I walked past each row I handed the papers to the first student and instructed him to take one and pass it behind him. I had counted out the exact number of worksheets needed so there was no one trying to get up to give me the extras. I noticed that as soon as my students received the worksheet, their mouths shut and they started working on it. The students received the worksheets all at the same time so there weren't groups of students in the back who were waiting forever for me to hand them a worksheet. They all waited for me to explain the worksheet to them instead of them asking me one by one. I also decided to implement a way to maintain group focus. I usually have students read from the text or read from an overhead. I choose students based on who wants to read. The problem I have is that the same students want to read every day and they want to read everything. I have students arguing over who gets to read what next. Then once I ask questions pertaining to the material we read, only the ones who read aloud could answer them. I decided to call on everyone randomly. Since I didn't have sticks I decided to just go down the gradebook randomly. I would pick a student and then either ask them a question or have them read. I would continue this process until everyone participated. I noticed that all my students were more engaged and I heard from everyone in the class, not just the "smarter" students. My students were paying closer attention because they were afraid I would call on them.
What Worked and What Didn't
I found that separating worksheets worked really well in my classes. I have made it into an everyday procedure. The thing that didn't work well was going down my gradebook randomly. When I went down my gradebook randomly I would forget who I called on and who hadn't been called on to answer a question. I think that if I had taken the time to prepare a little better by using straws or sticks would have made it much easier. I plan on using the craft sticks for the "stick pull" idea. By using the craft sticks or straws to identify my students I feel I will be able to remember who I called on. Then once their stick is pulled I can put it over in a pile.
Reflection of the Strategy
My students really enjoy taking a worksheet and passing them back. They feel like they are all helping me pass out papers. I no longer have students arguing who is going to help me pass out papers. I really like the randomness of calling out names to answer questions by using the "stick pull" idea. By being random with my students, their participation has improved. I have more students reading aloud and I have students more engaged in the lessons. The implementation of this model has made an impact on my classroom learning overall. I feel that implementing these simple strategies has made me a better teacher and my classroom more disciplined.
- Women of Refuge
- The Women of Refuge is a ministry that aims to bring women of all ages together in fellowship with one another and bring them to a closer relationship with Christ so they can become the women God has planned for them in all relationships.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
SED 500 Discipline Journal #3
Monday, October 6, 2008
SED 500 Discipline Journal #2
Incident #1 Cell Phone
A. October 6, 2008
B. During lunch
C. I was on my way to lunch when one of the custodians asked me to check the girls' bathroom. He said that there was a group of girls that had been in the bathroom for a long time and he needed to go in and clean up a leak. When I walked in I just saw one girl and she was texting on her cell phone at the counter. I walked in and asked her to give me her phone and she said, "I can't give you my phone." When I asked her why not she responded that she was texting her mom and that she needed the phone for after school. I told her that I still needed her phone or she will be receiving a referral for insubordination which will result in 2 days ISS. She continued to argue with me and since I knew the girl's name, I told her, "Okay, Jane Doe, I am going to write a referral for you." She was shocked that I knew her name and continued to argue that she wasn't going to give me her phone. Since I didn't have much time left in the lunch period, I decided to leave the restroom. I told her that she will be receiving a referral from me for refusing to give up her cell phone. I then told her that she needed to leave the restroom so the man could come in and clean it. Then I walked out of the restroom.
D. I wrote the referral and sent it to the office. I don't know what was her consequence, but I am sure it was 2 days ISS. If she did receive ISS then I feel that the consequence was appropriate.
E. Since I have not had this student in class there were no relationships affected. I only knew her name because she had come to content mastery to get help when I was in there.
Incident #2 Disruptive Behavior
A. October 8, 2008
B. 10th / World History
C. Class had just started when one of my students, "Billy" dropped his dollar coin from the vending machine. Another student, "Jon" rushed over and took the coin off the floor and kept it. "Billy" wanted his coin back so he took "Jon's" backpack. The two young men chased each other around the classroom and played tug-o-war with the backpack. "Jon" wouldn't give the coin back no matter how much I told him to. He claimed that he didn't have the coin, however, "Billy" never got it back either. After about 5 minutes of them running around the room I had had enough and could tell there was no way it was going to end. Then "Jon" decided to push a desk towards "Billy" to cut him off so he could get his backpack. This action resulted in "Billy" falling over the desk onto the floor. I sent them both out of the classroom with a referral for disruptive behavior. "Jon" came back with a detention, but "Billy" never did. I asked "Jon" if "Billy" had made it to the office and he said that he saw him walking another direction. I investigated and found out that "Jon" had signed in at the office, but was never seen by an administrator. He had signed in then left. Thankfully, I had saved a copy of the original referral which I attached to a new referral noting that he never showed up to the office.
D. "Jon" was given 2 days ISS for skipping the office. I believe that this was an appropriate consequence for "Jon." It was his first time in the office this year and he wasn't shown "mercy." Usually when students don't have a file they let them off with a warning or a detention. Since "Jon" didn't make it to the office his warning was waived and he was given the more severe consequence.
E. Even though this situation resulted in a bad one, I still feel that my relationship to this student was not affected. He came to class once he finished his ISS time and he demonstrated respect to me and did as I had asked of him.
Incident #3 - Tardy
A. October 9, 2008
B. 9th / World Geography
C. I have one female student who walks into my class late almost every week. As indicated on the tardy sheet she walked in late with her 7th tardy. When she came in late she begged that I didn't write her up. According to our campus tardy policy, the 7th tardy is Saturday School. She had already been given a 2 hour Saturday School for tardy #6 and now she would be given a 4 hour Saturday School. Since it was the day of six weeks exams, I decided that it would be best for her to finish her test and to send her to the office later in the period. Once she completed her test, I sent her down to the office with the referral documenting all her tardies.
D. She came back at the end of the period with a copy of the referral. I am not sure what her consequence was since she came back to my class in a bad mood and didn't show me the referral. I am sure that the consequence was appropriate since they had been appropriate the last few times.
E. I don't feel that any relationships with this student were affected. I had written her up several times for the same thing and she has never taken it out on me. She still comes to me for advice and says hi to me in the hallways.
Incident #4 Cell Phone
A. October 7, 2008
B. After 2nd period
C. I was on my way to the office when I saw a young lady walking by the cafeteria with her cell phone out. I asked the girl to give me her phone and she kept walking away. She at first ignored me, but then when I said it louder, she yelled back, "NO!" I proceeded to follow her around the outside of the building. I was about 10 steps behind her and the young lady never did turn around or stop to talk to me. The whole time I was following behind her and asking her to stop, she just kept walking and mouthing off. She informed me that she was walking to the front of the school so her mom can pick her up because she was leaving our school and will no longer be coming to MHS. I finally stopped following her when she walked around the band hall towards the front. I had somewhere else I needed to go and I didn't have time to chase her all over the building. I could have caught her if I had ran after her, but I didn't think it was too professional to chase a student around in circles.
D. Since I never did catch up to her, there were no consequences. To this day I have kept my eyes open for her. I have asked around to see if anyone knows her name and all I have come up with is Melissa. I pulled up Chancery to locate all "Melissa's" on our campus and none of the pictures matched up to her. So I am assuming she did withdrawal.
E. Since I hadn't seen this student until today, I hadn't established a relationship with her. Since I had no previous relationship in regards to her there were none affected.
Incident #5 Cell Phone
A. October 8, 2008
B. Before 1st period/after tardy bell
C. I was walking to the front office with another teacher when we noticed a young man walking towards us on his cell phone. He obviously didn't care about the school policy regarding cell phones since he continued to carry on a conversation even after he made eye contact with us. As we got closer he continued to talk on his cell phone. We asked him to give us his cell phone and he immediately began to argue with us. He informed us that he was NOT going to give us his cell phone and that he was talking to his momma. He said that he called his momma to pick him up because there was no way he was going to sit in ISS all day on stools due to a back problem that he had. We still asked that he give us the cell phone. He wouldn't stop talking or wlaking. When we walked one direction, he walked the other direction. After about 5 minutes of this, another teacher came into the hallway and noticed what was happening. So she put out her arms to block him from walking away from us again. By this time the student was trapped with all 3 of us surrounding him. We redirected him to the office since he was being insubordinate. We followed along behind him as he made his way to the discipline office.
D. Since the teacher I was walking with was an administrator intern she handled the situation so I could get to my hall duty. I do not know what the consequence of his insubordination was, but the teacher did tell me that his mother said that she was going to take his cell phone away from him.
E. Today was the first time I had seen this student so there was no prior relationship established that was affected
Incident #6 Stealing/Skipping Lunch
A. October 8, 2008
B. During 2nd lunch/3rd period
C. On one section of my classroom, I stapled Skeeter pride stuff. One thing in particular is a football towel that I received a couple of years ago from the Booster Club. I stapled this towel on the wall behind the door. I noticed when I got back into my room 2nd period that this towel was gone. I remember it being there before school so I knew that it had to be taken during 1st period when another teacher is in my classroom. The staples were still sticking out from the wall when the student pulled it off. It wasn't until 3rd period when I decided to ask a couple of my students if they knew who took the towel. Some of my students were in that class 1st period so I thought they would have seen something. It wasn't until after lunch I found out who had my towel. When I was going to lunch I noticed this young man in a pink shirt walking around the ISS room to leave campus for lunch. I tried to stop him, but by the time I walked around the building he was already past the car wash. I noticed him swinging something white around his head as he walked across the street. When I got back to class, one of my students came up to me and said, "Mrs. Lemons, I did some asking around and I know who has your towel." I asked him who it was and he said he didn't know his name but he was standing outside in the hallway. We walked out in the hallway and he pointed out the same student I saw crossing the street during lunch. Then it dawned on me that the white thing he was swining around his head was my towel. Now I can get the student who stole my towel and the student who skipped lunch. I saw which classroom he went into so I called the teacher. I asked her if she had a student in her class wearing a pink shirt with a shaved head. She said yes. I found out that his name was Josh, but I didn't have his last name. I then asked her what his last name was and then I explained to her what had happened. I then asked her if he had a white Skeeter towel with him when he walked into her classroom She immediately said that he did. I told her that I was on my way to write him up for skipping lunch and for stealing my towel. I walked down to her classroom and asked to speak to Josh. When he came out into the hallway, I explained to him that I had seen him walking across the street for lunch so I was going to write a referral for skipping. Then I told him that I also needed my towel back. He said he didn't have my towel. I informed him that I just saw him swinging it over his head. Then he told me that I could search him. We walked back into the classroom and he showed me there was nothing in his bag. I knew that he had to have hidden it so I told him that since I saw him with it I was going to include on the referral that he stole the towel and refused to give it back. As I was writing on the referral he immediately reached over to another student who handed him my towel. Josh layed it down on the desk I was writing on and he quickly apologized. I took him back out into the hallway where I counseled with him. I asked him why he lied to me about having it and why he took it in the first place. He said he didn't know. I then told him that I would take off the part about him stealing the towel since he returned it, but I still needed to write him up for skipping lunch. He understood. I then went on to tell him that I knew he wasn't a bad student, he just made a bad decision. I wrote him up and sent him to the office.
D. I received a copy of his referral in my box. The referral showed that he was given an hour detention. I also e-mailed the teacher in my room 1st period to tell him who had my towel. I had e-mailed him previously to see if he knew who might have taken it. Of course he apologized for his student, and promised me that he would pay more attention to what his students were doing during class.
E. My relationship with this student has always been a good one. I didn't have him as a student, but he had come to CMC a couple of times. When he saw me in the hallway he would ask how my day was going. Even this morning while he was out in the hallway (before the incident happened) I asked him how his day was going so far and we carried on a friendly conversation. I think that after this incidient he may be a little timid or embarassed, but I don't think it is going to affect our relationship. I think it is just going to uncomfortable for him until a couple of weekes passes by.
Incident #7 Cell Phone Again
A. October 9, 2008
B. After 2nd period
C. I was leaving to go on my conference when I saw the same male student from the day before giving more teachers issues with his cell phone. He was angry that they somehow got it away from him. He was yelling at them and cussing out the other teacher who had his cell phone. I stayed around to make sure that she was safe and that nothing happened between her and the other student. He kept screaming at her to give him his cel phone because he needed it. After about 10 minutes of him walking back and forth to get the phone back from the teacher, he finally walked out of the building. Then right when we thought it was over, he walked back into the building demanding we give him his phone back. She told him that he could get his phone back in 24 hours and after he paid $15.00 for it. By this time she was on her way up to the office so he followed her there.
D. I didn't stick around to see the end result, but apparently whatever he received the day before didn't hold up for the next day. So apparently the consequence didn't teach him a lesson or stop his behavior. We did find out later that this student was labeled ED which stands for Emotional Disturbed and was one of our own students.
E. From my experience with this student, he has no respect for authorities and therefore we wouldn't have been able to establish good rapport. I had never seen this student all year and then in two days I saw his worst side come out. I am sure we will not have a very positive relationship in the future so there were no relationships affected.
Incident #8 Dress Code/Insubordination
A. October 10, 2008
B. During 1st period
C. I was walking back to my classroom after 1st period and there was a kid with a Jack Daniels jacket arguing with one of our female administrators. I stopped to see if she needed any help. The student apparently was warned about wearing his black jacket with a huge Jack Daniels bottle and logo on the back of it. He argued with her that he was not warned and that he would put the jacket in his locker. She told him that he already had his chance to put the jacket up and now he had to give it to her. He started walking away from her so I blocked the exit to keep him from walking away. He turned back around and walked the other way. By this time another teacher, who was an administrator intern, came and helped escort the student to the office.
D. Since I was not directly involved in this situation I didn't follow up to find out what had happened. I just wanted to make sure that the female administrator had the help she needed. I am sure when they went to the office his jacket was probably taken up so that he wouldn't wear it again this semester.
E. Since I didn't know this student and had never seen him before today, relationships were not affected.
Incident #9 Altercation
A. October 15, 2008
B. During beginning of 2nd lunch
C. I was eating lunch in a fellow teacher's classroom when I heard some screaming coming from outside the window. At first I thought it was just the crowd of students going to the cafeteria. Then I heard a teacher telling someone to "knock it off." So I walked outside to where the noise was and I saw a group of 5 hispanic students standing on one side of the breezeway and 1 hispanic student standing on the other side of the breezeway. Another teacher had already called for an administrator and an SRO. I began questioning the girls about what happened. One of the girls had 2 scratches on the right side of her face with fresh blood coming from it. The other girl had scratches on her neck and chest. Her forehead and face also looked pretty swollen as if she had been hit. When we asked the girls what had happened they said that they weren't doing anything. One of the girls said that she got scratches because one of the girls in the group of 5 and her were "play fighting." From what it looked like to me and the other teacher was the the single girl was probably jumped by the group of 5 and was afraid to speak up. They both said that they weren't fighting. About that time the SRO's and an administrator showed up and they gave them the same story. They weren't fighting and they didn't even know each other. The SRO's mentioned the same scratches on their necks and faces and they again denied fighting. So Officer Krajca pointed out that they would look at the cameras to find out what really happened. Of course then the girls were a little hesitant to deny they were fighting. The SRO's ended up taking the whole group of them to the office.
D. Since I left the situation in the SRO's hands, I did not stay around to find out what happened or follow through with the incident.
E. I had never dealt with any of the girls before and I didn't know who they were. I only recognized one girl because she was in ISS numerous times last year so I did not have any sort of ties or relationships to the girls. Therefore the incident did not affect my relationships to any students.
Incident #10 Skipping
A. October 9, 2008
B. End of 4th period/bus stop
C. Our campus has a big problem with skippers this year. Every 4A I walk my CBVI students to their buses around 3:30 to make sure they get to their buses before other students get out so they don't get lost in the crowd or injured. While we stand at the bus stop waiting for the buses to arrive we always see a huge group of students walking back on campus. The procedures explained to us is to re-route the students around K hall so they do not step back on campus in the breezeway. I noticed this group of African American students of about 8 walking back to catch their buses. They were headed towards the breezeway during the school hours. I yelled across the parking lot for them to go around K hall because they were considered to be trespassing if they went back on campus. About 3 of the female students turned around and looked at me then kept walking. It was obvious they heard me and were just choosing to ignore me. I began to walk towards them and repeat myself while they kept walking. By the time I caught up to them, a teacher on duty in the breezeway stopped them. He told them that they were not allowed to walk in the breezeway if they were supposed to be out of school. So he redirected them the way I told them to go. Of course the whole time they were arguing that they were not trespassing because they were students at our school. It didn't matter to us what they were saying, we just wanted them off campus before the bell rang.
D. Since they eventually ended up doing as I requested, there were no discipline actions taken. As of right now the office is trying to come up with a way to prevent students from skipping 4th period then coming back to catch their buses. It makes it difficult when our campus is so open and close to fast food restaurants. Not to mention the number of students we have that affect the amount of man power to keep up with the skippers.
E. Although I run the same kids off almost every other day, I don't feel that any relationships have been affected. They still do not respect my authority or the policies of our school. To them I am just some lady who tells them what they cannot do and they do it anyway.
II. The Model I Implemented:
Fred Jones' Positive Disciple Strategy
Summary of the Model:
I am usually a Love & Logic teacher that loves every concept of the behavior strategy. I had to implement Positive Discipline which is a discipline strategy that places an emphasis on learner motivation and classroom behavior. Dr. Jones' model is based on four legs of discipline and management. All four of the legs are needed to make this strategy successful. These legs that Dr. Jones refers to are limit setting, responsibility training, omission training, and backup system.
Description of How I Implemented the Strategy:
All students get tired of doing the same routine assignments over and over again. I decided to implement a technique that was discussed from the positive reinforcement behavior strategy. I usually lecture on a section from the text book then I have my students discuss the questions or answer the questions. I decided to use the "BAM Boards." Since my US History class is my best class and I tend to enjoy the most, I decided to implement the strategy with them. Since I didn't have the shower board that Steve mentioned, I decided to just have my students write on their own paper. We were discussing the establishment of the United States, specifically the Pilgrims and Puritans that came and to set up the 13 colonies. I gave my students some paper and told them to write the word "PILGRIMS" and "PURITANS" on their paper. Pilgrims is on one side of the paper and Puritans is on the other side of the paper. At the end of the section, the text asks 5 questions. I explained to them that when the answer was Pilgrims they needed to flip their paper to that side and yell "BAM" as they showed me their answers. Then vice versa with Puritans. I couldn't believe the amount of classroom participation I had. Usually I have about 1 or 2 that don't speak up in class, but even those students were holding up papers. I even adjusted the strategy by telling them that if they thought their answer was wrong after a hint then they could change their answer by yelling "BAM, BAM." Some chose to use this when they changed their answer. We all had so much fun that I had to come up with more questions just so we could keep playing. It gave me a way to check for understanding without having to grade numerous amounts of paper.
What Worked and What Didn't:
The only thing I found that didn't work too well was the use of white notebook paper. Since the students wrote the words so huge when they held up their papers, I could see the other word bleeding through the side they were showing me. So I had trouble seeing what the students in the back chose. The BAM Boards worked wonderfully!! I have used it once more since the first time I used it. When I have time I am going to run by Home Depot and get the shower board that Steve suggested. I know my students will enjoy that much more than notebook paper.
Reflection of the Strategy:
This technique have a very good effect on my students. They were more engaged in the lesson and on me. Usually when we discuss the answers I have some students who will work on other things or never look directly at me. With the BAM Boards every single student's eyes were looking at me and I had 100% participation from the class. I feel that the implementation of this technique helped my students understand the sections that were taught and it helped them retain the information. When I did a brief recap of the previous days lesson before starting the new lesson, my students still remembered what we discussed because of the BAM Boards. BAM Board is a strategy that I will continue to implement in my classroom of juniors and plan on using it in my other classes.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
My husband, Darren, has been such a blessing to me. I am so blessed that God arranged for us to meet. When I moved to Texas from Arkansas my freshman year of high school, I would often ask God why He moved my family so far away from our friends and family. It wasn't until 3 years later that God answered my question. My family started attending Friendship Baptist Church and that is where I met my future husband. Darren and I have been married for 5 years now and it has been amazing to see how God has used us. Darren is currently serving his 7th year as student pastor at the same church we met in and were married. Through our years of marriage the Lord has called Darren and me into numerous ministries. Darren feels led to one day be a church planter for our association. Darren is my best friend and my hero. The things he does daily for the cause of Christ is astonishing. I couldn't think of a better man to represent Christ and His work. He has been very supportive and encouraging while I work on my Masters.
Gracie (5)
We adopted Gracie 2 months after Darren and I had been married. Before Gracie our life was pretty much an ordinary life. Darren was working a lot as a student pastor and I would sit at home bored out of my mind and lonely. The first time I saw Gracie I fell in love with her. She was only 4 weeks old and could barely walk on the floor because her legs were so tiny. She was originally named Macy by the breeders, but we renamed her. We chose Gracie because on the day we got her, Darren sang a song for church called, "Your Grace Amazes Me." So we took grace and made it Gracie. That night she spent her first day with us at church. My sister, Beth, held her in Darren's office during the whole service because we didn't have time to buy her a kennel and we had no idea what to do with a puppy. She has been such a blessing to our family. She has survived our first experiences of "puppy parenting." She swallowed rat poison twice which resulted in us having to pour peroxide down her throat to get her to spit all of it up. Through the years Gracie has helped turn our troublesome days into fun days. She was quick to learn many tricks and is the most well behaved dog I have ever met. She will shower you with slobber and lots love. She is always willing to pose for pictures when I get out my camera no matter where I put her. As you can see from this picture she is very photogenic.
Gabbie (2)
