Let's face it, we are not all going to love every child we teach. We are not going to click and form an unbreakable bond with every child we teach. There are going to be some kids we are ready to kick out the door at the end of the year. AND THAT IS OKAY! Asking yourself these questions can aide in changing your mindset about these students and building connection to enhance their learning!
How many mornings do you walk into school with a wrinkle free, matching outfit, hair and make up complete? Your actual children are at school on time with their hair brushed, bags packed, agendas signed, school projects and homework turned in. Your kids even have a matching outfit down to their socks. you casually drop each child off giving a hug or a kiss on the cheek and head to your classroom. You walk into your classroom knowing you are totally up to date with grading and your lesson plans. You just can't wait to start the day with your class completely stress free?
I don't know about you but this is not what my morning looks like. Most mornings Raelynn (my four year old daughter) is yelling at me because she doesn't like the outfit I picked out for her. We get in a knock down drag out to brush her hair or just throw it into the "messy bun," we do way to often. We are running out the door without our lunches or breakfast so we eat at the cafeteria. Making me even more late to my pile of ungraded papers and blank lesson plans for math which I have to teach in about 45 minutes.
Odds are your students have had the same morning as you! Starting your day in fluster will only result in you or your students loosing their patience quickly.
The first step in handling stressful students, stressful classes, or even to recover from a stressful morning is to be mindful. Having mindfulness is maintaining and being aware of your thoughts. Learning how to become aware of your thoughts is good practice for your students as well!
Here is what we do in my third grade classroom! Every morning, after we watch the morning announcements, after lunch count, and when everyone is in a seat, we take a few minutes to "meditate." We take a few minutes (sometimes literally one minute) to take a breath from our ever so stressful morning and get our minds ready to learn. When I first started this procedure in the classroom I was clueless! However, here are a few websites I have used to get us started.
We started with Head Space. This is a student friendly website. There is a 10 day free meditation program to help you set mindful meditation in the classroom.
Go Noodle is another great website we have used. In the "breathing" section there are one minute videos!
We are currently using Annaka Harris. Student friendly website where students are guided into using mindfulness breathing, hearing, seeing, friendly wishes, breathing, and seeing.
This 2-5 minutes everyday becomes an essential part of you and your students day.
Many times if you are frustrated with a certain behavior from a child, the rest of the class probably is too. Creating a class goal, empowers the entire class. Much of the redirecting and modeling by you will be shifted to the class. As a class talk about things that are going well and things your students would like to see go a bit differently. As a group, not only come up with a class goal, but also MAKE A PLAN, on how and when the goal will be achieved by.
For example, a select few of students are having a hard time transitioning quickly and quietly to another activity. Scaffold students into making this goal. Ask students how we could take steps to make this a better procedure in the classroom. Example steps may include:
1. Have a mock transition where student practice procedures every morning and expectations are talked discussed (use of anchor chart)
2. Students will self assess their transition, at every transition time.
3. Teacher can take pictures of students following correct procedures and post for student reference.
4. This goal will be achieved in 2 weeks or reevaluated
Today, in education, we are learning our most difficult students, often times, come from unique home lives or are going through rough situations at home. With this being said not every child who can't follow basic classroom procedures are students who have experienced trauma.
A traumatized student is a student who has experienced a deeply distressing or disturbing experience and DO NOT have a solid support system at home. When I began my research on teaching students with trauma, the stories and examples I was hearing had me thinking not only I was a traumatized student but also my four year old daughter. WRONG! I had a super support system at home as well as my daughter. Students who have experienced trauma and do not have a support systems at home do not come to school to learn but simply to have this support. Whether they are seeking your support and attention in a negative or positivity way, many times this is the cause of the undesirable behaviors your are experiencing while your teaching your reading lesson about finding main idea.
ALTHOUGH, this next piece of advice is going to be the most difficult, I encourage you to get to know your difficult students in every way possible. I have used the 2 minutes for 10 days rule. Often we have a heads up as to who our difficult kid are going to be in our class. Therefore, I start the very first day of school, giving the child 2 minutes everyday ( at the same time everyday) to talk about anything they want. The first couple of days its like pulling teeth to make a connection or to get them to talk. However, by the tenth day your trying to cut them off after 2 minutes. This procedure allows you to not only connect with the student on their level but to also get a better understanding of where they are coming from. Their stories allow you get a small glimpse of their lives outside of the classroom. This is only the first step to reaching these children!
Leave a comment! How do you connect and reach the difficult students in your classroom?
Stay posted for more strategies and support on educating the traumatized student.
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