I yelled at a kid last week. She is in 6th grade and she is a sly troublemaker. She sits near the door of the classroom and is a bit out of sight as I’m teaching since she’s off to the side. Thursday was Book Day so I was reading books to the class. All was going well until Little Miss Troublemaker decided to reach up and turn the fan on high. Then she opened and closed the door just enough to keep it squeaking constantly. Then she started laughing at me and making comments to the class to get everyone to laugh and that’s when my patience ran out. I told her to go outside the door and wait for me. At that point, the entire class became silent because they all wanted to know what I was going to do. I went outside, closed the door and panicked because I had no idea what to say to her! She doesn’t understand English and I didn’t know enough firm words in Spanish!
After an instantaneous prayer, I just looked at her right in the eyes (about three inches from her face) and said, “STOP LAUGHING. STOP TALKING. BE QUIET. BE GOOD!” The whole time I was saying this, she was saying back to me in English, “I’m sorry, Teacher. I will Teacher. I’m sorry, Teacher.” I saw that she was about to lose it, so I just hugged her and said, “_____, you are a good girl. I love you. I want you to be good.” She hugged me back and went inside.
When Nancy and I left the class, I just about panicked again! What in the world did I just do?! Was I allowed to discipline like that?! Great! Now what was going to happen? After school, I hung around because I wanted to catch this student again to reinforce that I love her, and she just ran past me without making eye contact. Friday morning when she came, she tried to walk past me again, but I stopped her and gave her the fakey-kiss greeting, and she about melted into my arms! Whew! I have gained a friend AND a well-behaved student! Let's pray that she remembers this when I'm back in her class on Tuesday!
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4 comments:
Oh, _______! She really is a sweetheart, I just think she has zero discipline. I think I will try this approach. You're so much better at being a mom than I am!
-j
I just love to "win someone over" with love when they have really been a challenge! I really catches them off guard and y o u make a friend for life! Nice job!
Good for you, Martha! Love can be understood in any language- and you remembered to reach out to the Source of Love before you said a word!
Remember when you did a sub job in Spanish class here, and they tried to get away with things, but you understood what was going on?
I think kids will be kids anytime with a sub. So glad yours turned out on such a positive note. Maybe you did more to her for her outlook in class and Jason won't have any problems. We'll pray she learned a little bit more self control and wisdom in behavior in her classroom.
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