The fact that it's finally week 15 is unbelievable. Even with all the intense stress we have all been through, I have to admit that this semester has flown by. The valuable aspect of my week (along with week 15 being over!) stems from a student behavior issue I have in one of the sections of Computer Applications. There is one particular student who defies my authority as a teacher any chance he gets. My coop and I have taken appropriate steps numerous times in the past with disciplining this student. Finally on Monday after he made unnecessary comments about me, I took a different approach to the situation and called the student into the hallway to talk to him one on one. I explained to him that because I am still learning what it takes to be the best teacher I can and asked him something along the lines of specific things I have done in his class to improve my teaching performance in his class. At first he didn't have anything to say, so I went on and reiterated some of the comments he has made about me and asked him what made him say those things. He immediately said he didn't know why he said what he did and apologized to me. Inside, I was screaming, "Why can't you just act your age?", but I refrained and asked him to help make my last few days positive ones. His behavior improved the rest of the week and I had no issues with him. Hopefully the rest of my time at school will be that smooth!
If I could go back and change anything from this past week, it would be with the test in Tuesday's Money and Banking. I gave them a test which we reviewed for on Monday. We didn't get through the whole I review I planned and I decided to finish it on Tuesday before the students took their test. We ended up taking too much time to finish the review and the students did not have enough time to complete their tests. I gave them more time on Wednesday, but I should have either watched the time better on Tuesday or just pushed the test back a day.
Have a great last three days!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The way you approached the situation with the student who was giving you a difficult time seemed to work well. I did not have any student behavior escalate to the point of taking them into the hallway. However, when it does happen, I will use the approach you described. Yes, the semester is almost over. It has been difficult, stressful and fun. Most of all, I have learned a lot about what I have to do to become a good teacher.
ReplyDelete