Oh. My. Goodness.
Today was out of control!
We have a new boy who started a few weeks ago in our 4's class. He is generally good at doing his work - even though he didn't know how to spell his name yet when he started - and sometimes, we have to coax him a little bit to do things when he's not interested...but today. There was no redemption.
By the end of the day, he was throwing chairs, signs, books, pillows (totally ruined the book reading corner) and was running around like a maniac. Audree (the main teacher), literally had to hold him down and she was freaked out that he was going to bite her or run and hurt someone. And we had 6 other kids in the classroom! It was so disruptive. I took over teaching and she went out into the hallway and tried to call the mom and/or nanny, but none of the phone numbers worked or they didn't answer. So basically, she couldn't teach anymore and had to hold the kid down for 30 minutes until the nanny came to pick him up. It wasn't like we could just put him in "time-out" because he wouldn't stay there, and we didn't want him to get hurt. She tried like every tactic we know of...she talked with him during the first issue and kept him in during recess (he wouldn't finish his work, so he had to stay in to do it) and it seemed like he learned his lesson. Nope. He was outright defiant. She talked to him, prayed with him, offered him a hug...but he just didn't want to obey.
And, worse of all, one of the mom's was in the classroom during it. She was there to bring cupcakes for her daughters birthday. And she's a teacher at the school we rent from. Great. Awesome. We looked like the best teachers ever, I bet.
I felt so bad for Audree. I wish I could've done more, but I mean, what could I have done? She is the one who has to talk to the parents and set the standard for discipline in the classroom. All I could do at the end of the day was offer a hug and tell her I thought she did what was best.
Geez, its days like this that I am glad I'm just the aide and can come home and mostly forget about it. I don't have to talk to the parents or work out a strategy for next time. I hope they come up with a solution though, because it just makes for a crazy day constantly fighting with this kid!
Oh my goodness, crazy kid! It's so hard to enforce discipline in a group setting, especially when you can't neglect the other kids for the one that's demanding attention. I'm glad it wasn't a huge stress on you. I feel for the teacher!
ReplyDeleteI was doing childcare at church the other week (and they have such strict discipline rules, including no time-outs!) and this kid was running around ruining everything the other kids were playing with or building! I had to hold him down and talk to him. Amazingly, when I said "If you do something mean again, I will take away your toy", he listened! But every kid is different. Moms and teachers and nannies have their work cut out for them because every kid is different and comes from different backgrounds!
So true! One kid will totally change his attitude when we tell him he won't get his good listening sticker at he end of the day if he makes a poor choice, where as the next kid doesn't even seem to care! Just shows that we need to rely on God in every situation...so hard to remember that though, but we want these kids to know that God loves them and we love them even when they make poor decisions.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your kid listened to you in class - isn't it SUCH a relief when they do?
Wow what a crazy day. Amazing how one kid can have such a big effect on everything. I'm glad you were there to be an encouragement to Audree. I'm with you, I would be glad to not have to deal with the parents and come up with discipline tactics.
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