Power Struggles...

An interesting situation occurred while I was in full control of the classroom with my mentor teacher not around at the moment. I was getting the students ready to go outside for recess, and our neighbor teacher was taking them outside. She popped her head in to say she was ready and I was still waiting on the students to gain full control of themselves before they go into the hallway! 

Our fourth grade team has a consequence of not completing homework as spending recess time completing the homework. Every student understands this consequence and I have never had a problem with students not doing as told. They know that if they do not have their homework, that they have to stay inside. 

Well, as I was trying to get the students ready to go, one student who was supposed to stay inside tried to sneak in line to go outside. I saw him and politely asked him to get his things together to go in the other classroom. At this time, the rest of the class went out the door with the other teacher. Well, he was not happy with me. We talked about what happens if he doesn't have his homework (which we had already discussed this morning when he didn't turn it in and he accepted the responsibility!) and he tried to have a power struggle with me, slouching around, slowly gathering his things, and "dropping" his books as he walked to the other classroom. While I didn't pay any attention to his actions, he still tried to not do his work in the other teacher's classroom, as I was told.

The thing that I learned from all of this, is the proper way to have a productive conversation discussing what went on. I discussed what happened with my mentor teacher, and she asked if I wanted to see how to handle the situation. I was ready to pull him aside and talk to him myself, but I have never had this issue with this class, so I thought it would be beneficial to see her talk to him. Boy, it was very beneficial!! 

My mentor teacher does a great job of talking with students on their level. While she had a stern tone because what he did not not acceptable, she did not just scream at him. They talked about what happened, how it made him feel and how it would make me feel, and how we could have handled it differently. She did a great job of relating it back to his family and how if that was acceptable behavior at home (which he said no), so we talked about how we wanted things to go from now on. 

The best things about students is that most of them accept the responsibility of their actions, whether when the action happens or after a talk, and then they move on. After specials, he came back smiling and ready to learn. I was afraid that he was going to be more reserved because of our conversation, but I believe that he was oaky with everything because of the way my mentor teacher handled the situation. 

I learn new things every day with my student teaching!!