Love and Logic: Meeting the Challenge: Post 1

I've been reading the book Meeting the Challenge: Using Love and Logic to help children develop attention and behavior skills.



I happened to pick up the book right around the time that grades were due at my school.

At the school I started working at this year there is a climate of not being content to let kids fail. This is a good idea in theory, but in reality it seems to be just passing the kids through despite the fact that they are doing little to no work. 

I worry about what we are teaching these kids about life, and how much they are going to struggle in college or in a job, when they have been taught for all these years in school that they can do nothing and are still going to get credit.

The rules for Love and Logic are that:

1. Adults take care of themselves by setting limits in a loving way.

2. Childhood misbehavior is treated as an opportunity for gaining wisdom.

1. How is a teacher supposed to manage their classroom when they have disruptive students who know that they are going to pass because they happen to have an IEP?

2. What wisdom are we passing on to the kids that we work with in our no child fails climate? And how is a teacher supposed to manage their classroom when they have disruptive students who know that they are going to pass because they happen to have an IEP?

2015 Resolutions

I am linking up with Second Grade Nest

I need to exude more compassion, interest, and intelligence in general. I seem like I don't care too often because I don't want to seem like a bitch. I need to be more vocal. If something is bothering me, I need to let my inner aggressively assertive (aka bossy side) out.

I love to read, but really need to branch out from what I typically read. I've heard of this challenge and always wanted to do it, so here is to 2015 being the year. I also want to continue to grow the book club that I organize and to help my students develop a love of books. 

Be more confident and assertive at work. It's my first year, but I am smart and educated and know a lot. I can make a difference in my school, I just need to let other people know that.

I want to double the size of my TPT store in the next year. This is my first year, and I feel like I am off to a good start, but I want to keep pushing myself through the second year. 

Go to the gym or get outside to work out. Who knows, maybe I will rekindle my love of working out this year. I used to love to go to the gym. In recent years it has become more and more of a chore. I need to find that passion for exercise and for my health again. 

Divergent discussion questions for the classroom

Lately the kids in my room have been reading The Divergent series.

The series has been great for them. It has led to a lot of different conversations about what they want for the future and what the problems with going to extemes of your personality are. I have kids with emotional/behavior disorders and kids on the autism spectrum, so it has been eye opening to them.

Some things that we have talked about.

Abnegation:

Why is it important to have people in the world who do things for others?

What is the problem with only doing things for others?

Why is this not the ideal person to be? 

Should the President be Abnegation?

Dauntless:

What is the different between being brave and being a bully?

Erudite:

It's good to be smart, but why shouldn't you think of youself as better then others for being smart?

Is being smart the key to being successful?

Amity:

What is the problem with just farming and smoking pot?

Why wouldn't you want to live that kind of life?

Candor:

Why should you try to not see things as black and white?

Why don't we just go around saying whatever we think (being honest)?

What are the problems with being too honest?

High/Low 9/6

Time for a high/low for the week. Thank you A First For Everything for hosting.

I had a nice talk with the kids I work with about what art is. To have some unique art in my classroom I printed out screenshots I had taken from World of Warcraft of pretty scenes in it. 

I like World of Warcraft a lot, mainly because it is such a bright, pretty game. The kids asked me about the games that I play, and I told them what game I like, and pointed out the screenshots on the wall.

It made me a little more relatable to the preteen boys I work with in my EBD classroom and got us talking about art in video games.

When given free time in advisory one of my students created with with domino pieces. He said that it reminded him of pixle art. I gave him a pride ticket for working diligently on it. Dilegence is one of the core values of the school that I am teaching at.

I went to a local elementary school and advertised for Girl Scouts at their open house. I got a lot of people who were interested. I'm always happy to let the community know that Girl Scouts is available and that troops are in the area.

I remember a few years ago someone I worked with asked if there were even scouts anymore. 

I got involved in Girl Scouts again because of my neice. I'm glad that I have found it though. I love to volunteer and working with the little kids is a nice break from being at the Jr. High.

I had my first fight in my classroom on Friday. Both of the boys got suspended. I really like both of the boys and hate to see them not able to participate in school.

I learned a few things from the experience though to get me through the rest of the year.

1. If a kid comes in looking tired and dirty (as one of the boys did) make sure that I stay in close proximity to them in advisory.

2. Do not have games or free time in advisory on Friday. The kids are too emotional about the weekend. I'm going to give them free time for being good in a Wednesday instead.

3. No matter how minor the fight is (and it was a minor fight) the kids see it as a major event in the day. To them it was a huge FIGHT, even though to me as an adult I saw it as one poking the other and then the other one punching him in the arm, then them shoving once before I broke them up. Be sympathic to their feels about it, not matter how minor it actually was.

Five For Friday: Week Before School starts

So this week has been crazy busy, but also crazy exciting. Here it goes.

1. I started out the week with training on PBIS. That is positive behavior support. The school I am at is on top of it, as they seem to be on top of everything. I'm lucky to be going into a school that has such a great community and such a rich school culture.

2. I then had the official school district training. I am officially a part of the school district, yay me.

3. I got together my classroom. It still needs a lot of work, but that will come as I am able to purchase some furniture pieces that are missing and add more stuff to make it look more inviting. The room will fill up, even if it does look a little empty now. 

4. I experience my first 12 hour day as teacher. I had an 8 AM training and an open house that lasted until 8 PM. It was a very long day. I got to meet a lot of the staff members at the school and got a lot of work done. I also enjoyed meeting a few of the students that I am going to be working with this year. Here is a picture of me at the end of it. I was so tired, meeting a ton of new people can be exhausting.

5. I went to a local gaming/comic book shop, Olympic Cards and Comics, and found out that the added a second floor gaming area to their shop. I'm not that into gaming or comic books, but by adding that space that makes them the largest gaming shop in America. It's kind of cool to see a local business become so successful. I was there picking up Magic cards to use as an incentives game with my EBD students. 

Back to School Memories

Linky with Always a Teacher, Forever a Mom on her Sunday Night Whispers Linky. I was a quiet kid, and I always remember that I was never comfortable in school until at least a month into it. Here are three of my memories.

Buy 2 Get 1 Sale

For the month of September I am having a Buy 2 Get 1 sale.

Happy shopping.