Chapter 5 - Classroom Management

I feel that classroom management is one of my strong areas.  I like structure, and from Day 1, my students know exactly what is expected.  I have my classroom rules posted for every student to see, and at various times during the year, we review them.  Most of my students are well-behaved and productive on a daily basis.  The times we have chaos in the room is when one of my severely ADHD students has not taken his medicine.  This happens a few times a month.  At first, I tried to deal with it in the classroom, but his behavior is not like any child's I've ever had.  He literally runs around the room, climbs on counters, and crawls under desks and chairs.  With this pattern, I decided to discuss options with my school psychologist and our assistant principal.  At first, I moved him to the front of the room.  That didn't do a thing when he didn't take his meds.  Then I moved his desk to the back of the room and hoped he wouldn't disturb any other student.  This didn't work either.  I then moved his desk beside my desk.  Big mistake!  He was taking things out of my desk drawers and had to be sent to the office for stealing.  He is very impulsive and is out of his seat constantly.  Now, I am to send him to the assistant principal when his behavior is disruptive.  He has been suspended twice this year due to his behavior.

What I did wrong was to send this student outside my door when he was running around the room.  I would keep my door open, and that didn 't accomplish a thing when he came back into the classroom.  Whenever I would talk with his mom about the situation, she would tell me that she had forgotten to get his presciption filled or she didn't have the money to get it.  Another thing I did wrong was to think that I alone could correct his behavior.  The more I dug into his life at home, the more I understood (or tried to) where he was coming from.  He has been taken from his mother twice by DSS.  He has been through things that no eight year old should ever have to go through. 

Currently, we are using a system like the Check-In/Check-Out.  My assistant principal checks in with this student every morning and asks if his homework is completed and how his evening was.  During the day, he checks in with me on this student's classwork and behavior.  At the end of the day, I send a note home to mom that is supposed to be signed and brought back (it is never signed nor brought back).  We have set up several I-team meetings between our school psychologist, assistant principal, mom, and myself to discuss this child' classroom behavior.  Over the past week, he has begun stealing from me and other students and lying to me, our assistant principal, and to his mom.  Mom says that nothing has changed at home, but we are seeing a side of this student that we haven't seen before.  I asked our assistant principal and the school psychologist about this student talking with a guidance counselor.  Mom did not agree with it and said that she was taking him to talk with someone already.  When I asked her about this later, she admitted that she had cancelled the last few appointments.  My next step is to begin a daily point system as discussed in this chapter and to follow-up with mom about him seeing a mental health person.