7 out of 10 ain't bad!

That's where we've made it to! Today is the first day I haven't come home completely beat. Behavior-wise, I'd give the 4th graders a 7 out of 10 for today.

Considering where we've come from, this is awesome!

I didn't want to be the mean teacher. I wanted them to like me. Maybe too much. I have learned (the hard way) that you can't do that. It's better to start "mean," then loosen up on them a bit sometime later down the road.

Last Friday I'd had it. I found out that morning that I would be having 2 preps that day. Music first thing, and Spanish they-didn't-know-when (at some point I may also have art on Friday, too... crazy). We get our "specials" teachers from another district, so we kind of have to take them when they tell us they can come.... once the schedule is set, it will be consistent... it just looks like they're all on one day.

... Anyway, I was flustered, the principal was flustered...

So, here it is first thing in the morning and I find out I have music right out of the gate. No problem, except for we serve breakfast in the room every morning (just granola bars and juice and stuff). I talked to the principal and we decided I should hold off on breakfast until after music. So, I set the breakfast tray on the seat of my chair and slid my chair under my desk. I slid. My chair. Under. My desk. I turn around for 42 seconds to adjust the schedule for the day on the board to reflect the specials, then turn back around to see kids with juice cups and mouths full of granola. One student had taken it upon himself to serve breakfast and put the tray in its usual spot.

I freaked out a little bit.

I decided that was it. When they returned from music, I pulled out the packet that I had given to their parents at the open house the night before and told the students what I told their parents:

• From now on you will get ONE verbal warning.
• After that your name is on the board. 
• If you get a check next to your name, you have to fill out a "behavior improvement plan" which you will sign, I will sign, and a parent will sign. (What rule did you break? What should you have done instead? What will you do next time?)

And then I broke out the reward system.

• If I "catch" you doing what you're supposed to be doing, on task, listening, staying in your seat, etc., you'll get one of these tickets. You can redeem the tickets for prizes each Friday (or save them up for bigger prizes).

Ok, I don't like to bribe kids, but they work hard for these tickets (I'm pretty stingy with them, in my opinion) and they love the idea.

We have silent reading every afternoon after recess. Until now, it was a vain attempt to mellow them out. Today, they were silent. The whole 20 minutes. Two students even came up to me after and commented how nice the quiet was. If those two appreciated it, I'm sure others did, too. I was proud of them. They were proud of themselves. I was happy instead of frustrated, and because of it, we had a totally decent afternoon. It was exactly the dynamic I wanted ... but I'm still in "mean" mode.

I've also started demanding silence before we will begin class. This has helped tremendously with transitions between subjects and students talking while I'm teaching. It sometimes seems like I'm wasting a lot of time waiting right now, but it really is working! I'm sure it will come more naturally to them down the road.

I also switched the schedule around a bit. Remember I was complaining that they were so good in the morning, but terrors in the afternoon? Well, I moved math to the morning and reading to the afternoon. They all finish math at different rates, and those early-finishers are far less rambunctious in the morning (they also don't seem to finish as quickly... maybe they're still sleepy). I seem to be able to fill the reading time slot better with my planning, and reading seems to mellow them out, so we moved that to the afternoon.

Progress. We're making progress. I love it!

Oh yeah... and I finally got another teacher there to admit that her class isn't where she'd like it to be behavior-wise either... actually, I happen to know she's having some pretty big problems... and she's a veteran! Made me feel like much less of a failure!