crazy. but that's how it goes.
i have one student who has chosen to make the 3 hours during which we meet completely futile. he is identified special ed, but with little to no support because there are not enough resources in the special ed department to manage the 15 seventh graders who are special ed.
this morning in science, the students were to design their own experiment. next week, they are learning about what makes good experimental design, which is a little on the dry side, so i thought it would be useful for them to have their own experiments from which to draw. anyway, he refuses to work and chooses to put himself on time out in the hall. there is no phone in the science room so i could not have called anyone.
i follow kid to hall and remind him that he can't just hang out here unattended, and may go take a time out in the nearest teacher's room (a time out that he hates because the teacher is strict/effective and would tolerate the junk). so he refuses. i ask a teacher's aide who is walking down the hall to escort him to the other classroom so i can go back to mine. she brings him to the office, instead. he later returns with the principal, who is equally stumped by his refusal to work on project that, for the most part, kids are enjoying. they agree that he will work in a group of one, and produce something by the end of class. end of class comes. he has nothing. of course.
i speak to vice principal, who is handling these discipline cases or whatever, who then tells me that of course he is acting out because he is bored, and he can't be expected to sit through a 90 minute science/math class and why aren't i changing up the science/math curriculum to reflect individual learning styles.
i explain that the curriculums are required and that i am doing what i have to and that i am trying to reflect individual learning styles the best i can and that the other 29 students have no problem doing what is expected and does it make sense to change something that works well enough just so one kid who is 3 to 4 grades below grade level and is legally entitled to individual attention but doesn't get it because we are out of budget can stop interrupting my class with bouts of rampant cursing, feet on his desk, and complete lack of respect (just because he is bored)?
So they decided the best option is to pull him out of science class, return him to Social Studies, which he failed anyway, and also pull him out of math class for 1/2 of the period so that he can get individual attention. for 1/2 of the class.
i'm not sure how i feel about this whole treating the symptom, not the disease sort of remedy.
this morning in science, the students were to design their own experiment. next week, they are learning about what makes good experimental design, which is a little on the dry side, so i thought it would be useful for them to have their own experiments from which to draw. anyway, he refuses to work and chooses to put himself on time out in the hall. there is no phone in the science room so i could not have called anyone.
i follow kid to hall and remind him that he can't just hang out here unattended, and may go take a time out in the nearest teacher's room (a time out that he hates because the teacher is strict/effective and would tolerate the junk). so he refuses. i ask a teacher's aide who is walking down the hall to escort him to the other classroom so i can go back to mine. she brings him to the office, instead. he later returns with the principal, who is equally stumped by his refusal to work on project that, for the most part, kids are enjoying. they agree that he will work in a group of one, and produce something by the end of class. end of class comes. he has nothing. of course.
i speak to vice principal, who is handling these discipline cases or whatever, who then tells me that of course he is acting out because he is bored, and he can't be expected to sit through a 90 minute science/math class and why aren't i changing up the science/math curriculum to reflect individual learning styles.
i explain that the curriculums are required and that i am doing what i have to and that i am trying to reflect individual learning styles the best i can and that the other 29 students have no problem doing what is expected and does it make sense to change something that works well enough just so one kid who is 3 to 4 grades below grade level and is legally entitled to individual attention but doesn't get it because we are out of budget can stop interrupting my class with bouts of rampant cursing, feet on his desk, and complete lack of respect (just because he is bored)?
So they decided the best option is to pull him out of science class, return him to Social Studies, which he failed anyway, and also pull him out of math class for 1/2 of the period so that he can get individual attention. for 1/2 of the class.
i'm not sure how i feel about this whole treating the symptom, not the disease sort of remedy.
posted by @rebeccaforever at
9:30 AM
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