During an ELL lesson I was teaching, I noticed a student sitting in the back not listening and distracting the students around him. It was not the first time I had asked this student to focus.
I did not make a huge deal out of it, I calmly asked the boy to move and sit closer to the front and continued with the lesson. The boy got about half way there before he stopped and started to goof off again.
So again I stopped and asked the boy to move to where I asked. The boy looked up at me, gave a defiant smile and said no. I had a split second of panic before I remembered everything I had learned from John Poulsen's workshop, "Teachers As Performers."
So I gave the boy a choice. I told him that he could either sit where I had asked or he could sit in the back with my TA (I was not about to ask a grade 1 boy to go stand in the hall and wait for me as he cooled off). Again the boy said "NO"
NOW WHAT? I was really panicking, I had no idea what I would do, so I just waited a moment and tried to have a teachers presence. Before I could really think of anything the boy stood up and moved. I thanked the boy and continued with my lesson.
My professors are always talking about the importance of wait time, I now understand why. If I had just reacted instantly to the boy and not given him a moment to move I would have had a bigger problem on my hands. I can't help but wonder how I would have dealt with the situation if the student had not moved.
What would you have done?
I did not make a huge deal out of it, I calmly asked the boy to move and sit closer to the front and continued with the lesson. The boy got about half way there before he stopped and started to goof off again.
So again I stopped and asked the boy to move to where I asked. The boy looked up at me, gave a defiant smile and said no. I had a split second of panic before I remembered everything I had learned from John Poulsen's workshop, "Teachers As Performers."
So I gave the boy a choice. I told him that he could either sit where I had asked or he could sit in the back with my TA (I was not about to ask a grade 1 boy to go stand in the hall and wait for me as he cooled off). Again the boy said "NO"
NOW WHAT? I was really panicking, I had no idea what I would do, so I just waited a moment and tried to have a teachers presence. Before I could really think of anything the boy stood up and moved. I thanked the boy and continued with my lesson.
My professors are always talking about the importance of wait time, I now understand why. If I had just reacted instantly to the boy and not given him a moment to move I would have had a bigger problem on my hands. I can't help but wonder how I would have dealt with the situation if the student had not moved.
What would you have done?