Boys, Boys, Boys!

Today started off on a good note...everything was going smoothly for most of the morning. We were adding words, pictures, and definitions to our homemade math dictionaries and talking about problems that were commonly missed on a recent worksheet. Throughout this, I'm asking "the boys" to please raise their hand if they would like to make a comment or share their thinking. The disruptions continue...

I warn them that if they don't raise their hand and make only appropriate comments, they will "move their clip" (which means 5 minutes of recess). The disruptions continue...

They're off to specials and I'm off to the the principal's office to see if she can talk with them and scare them into behaving. She tells me that she can meet with them at lunch and I should bring them in. I later find out that they all started crying like babies and admitting everything they've done wrong in class. (These kids think they are so tough in the classroom, yet they are babies at heart!) She talks about what will happen next (referral -> ISS) if they don't get their act together and sends them back to class. The disruptions return...

I didn't get much teaching done this afternoon because of all their talking and infectious laughing (it never infected me, but it did get to the other kids). As the boys walked out the door I asked each of them who I should call home to speak to (knowing full well, that I would just talk to whoever I could get a hold of). It just sparked a little more fear in their eyes and they all claimed that they would "be better tomorrow". I've already given them more chances than any of them deserve. I was trying to handle my classroom management on my own and these boys are beyond my control. Tomorrow they will be written up if they don't choose to make good choices (being on task and raising their hand to speak--or just not yelling out will work too). Their parents are also going to remind them of their future if they don't make good choices tonight!

Some of you may have noticed that I only mention this talkative bunch to be boys...well...it is ONLY boys! I am not being sexist in any way...it's just the way they are!