Baby Steps....

Friday. The kids were more wild than usual. Fiddling with things in their desks and definitely not choosing to listen to anything the sub or I said. Frustrating to say the least.
I had reached my limit during time of partner work. One child who had been giving me A LOT of grief all morning and many mornings leading up to this, decided to move in on a group of rowdy girls. One girl was APPLYING FAKE NAILS and the other was looking at a magazine. The young man just added to this already off task group. I walked over and told him he needed to pick a different group. He got right in my face instantly and gave me a bunch of attitude. He wasn't moving, so I restated my directions for him again, "You need to go to your seat". He walked away and mumbled something under his breath that took me off guard and hurt my feelings more than I'd like to admit. His disrespectful comment was enough for him to wind up in the office, but I knew sending him to the office wouldn't help me "reach him". My immediate reaction to his disrepectful comment was to reply with: "Get to your seat before I send you to the office." For this reply I'm not proud, but it happened and I'm here to own up to it. It's true what they say, some kids will get under your skin, but you cannot react rashly...it gets you nowhere.

Remembering this, I took some time to breathe and gave him the space he demanded. I saw that he looked remorseful, but knew that he would in no way try to make things right with me. His pride was at stake and all of his classmates were watching. I saw him working hard and decided to take a different route to resolve this issue. I wrote a short note and attached a few of their classroom dollars to the back. The note simply said, "Thank you for staying on task--good job". I laid the note and money on his desk and walked away quietly. I positioned myself on the other side of the room and silently watched as he read the note, smiled, and continued working hard on his writing assignment.

   ahh...I smiled as I saw this. He is going to be a tough cookie to crack, but I smiled seeing that I may have gotten one step closer to earning his respect. Respect doesn't come free, you know?! You have to give it to get it.