Behavior Management 101

[Editor's note: Miss Frazzled is a third-year teacher in an elementary school in the Bronx.]

Last year, my first full year as a teacher, was a crash course: Behavior Management 101. I had 21 children, 11 IEPs (all speech and language). And then there was this:

“Wait till you get him,” the other teachers would say. “He tried to burn down the school.”

So I cringed at the thought, and immediately put in place a prize box system so that children who did the right thing could be rewarded for good behavior. It worked. No pyrotechnics or arson in our class. One possible catastrophe averted, several more to go.

“He’s in his zone,” my co-teacher would say. We could tell what kind of day it was going to be as soon as he slithered into the classroom while supporting himself on the cubbies. The glassy no-contact eyes, the tilted head, the muffled voice. We knew it was going to be one of those crawling on the floor, saying no every five minutes, doing whatever you want kind of days. So we’d monitor and say, “Do some work, get a sticker; get five stickers, go to computer.” It worked. Meltdown averted for the time being…

“Did you see him just climb on the cubbies and jump off?” my co-teacher would say in disbelief as another child’s behavior problems began to surface. “This is getting to be a safety issue now,” she would say to the child’s mother over the phone. I don’t know what else to do, I would think to myself quietly as everything was falling apart around me. “This one’s for the social worker,” I would say. Sure enough as soon as the social worker got involved the problem was solved relatively quickly. It went like this: social worker called frequently to push mom to get right placement, mom got exasperated and took child out of school. Thank goodness for social workers. I hope he gets the right placement I thought to myself as I braced myself for what was still to come.

And that is how the year went. As soon as one child’s behavior problems were solved, another child’s behavior problems began. As soon as one hurricane would blow through another tropical storm would be forming. But just like each tropical storm and hurricane is unique so were those children. They contributed to making our class the special place that it was: a constantly changing, dynamic, bustling atmosphere.

Tagged: Bronx, elementary school

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