OCD anyone?

If you ask my friends or family, there are some things that I am a bit OCD about. I like pictures hanging straight. I like straight lines and things in rows. I like when groups of things match and there aren't any odd pieces out. I like that everything has a home and is organized. I don't work well when things aren't like this. I usually have to fix them before I think about anything else. Well...I have a student who is similar, but more extreme than myself.

This student, Dustin*, is a bit OCD. I don't say that in a diagnosed sort of way, but in the same way that I am, just worse. Dustin is the type of student who has to have things just right. He is unable to work at his desk (or anywhere) if there is something there that doesn't belong. For example, last week I put a paper on his desk that needed to be finished from the day before. I wrote on it, "Please Complete!" We began our morning math and I see Dustin walking around the classroom.

Me: "Dustin, where are you going?"

D: "I need to put this away."

Me: "Okay." (not thinking about the paper he is carrying)

Later in the day, I'm looking through the grading bin to see what I can work on and I find the paper that I had put on Dustin's desk earlier in the day. However, it still wasn't complete. I return it to Dustin's desk for the second time that day. As we began another lesson, Dustin is clearing his desk of all unnecessary items and he finds the paper. He seems not sure of what to do with it again and since everything needs a place, he turns it in to the grading bin AGAIN, still incomplete. Now I've figured out that he didn't like it on his desk because that's not what he was supposed to be working on. This time, I did not immediately return it to his desk. I saved it until I had time to talk to him about how to finish this paper. This time he put it in his folder which had it's own place inside his desk. In fact, his desk is the most perfectly organized 4th grade desk I've ever seen! Everything has its place and no work can be done until that is done.

Dustin is also a student I sit with very close at writing time. Here are a few comments from him:

- "That /g/ looks a little dark. I need to fix it."

- "That /s/ looks to big. I need to fix it."

- "I skipped too much space there. Let me go back."

- "Why did I write that /f/ so small?"

If we ever get through a writing composition, at least it will all be the same shade of lead, the same size, and with the same amount of space in between each word.

A little difficulty...

I have a student who has difficulty writing. He doesn't like doing it. It stresses him out and gives him lots of anxiety. This is hard, especially in 4th grade when we will have to take the Writing TAKS the first week in March. We don't have time to worry about how to actually write the words on the page, we only have time to worry about the thoughts that will be written on the page.

Well, I guess I'm making time this year, because this student is unable to write without lots of guidance and positive reinforcement. Luckily, I have lots of experience in positive reinforcement. I had a couple of kids last year who needed positive reinforcement more than they needed water to survive. The same goes for this year.

So last week we were working on our first composition of the year. For students who hate writing, this is a bit of a struggle. I sat next to one particular child each day during writing time so that we would have something to show from Writers' Workshop. Let's call this child Alexander. During Writers' Workshop, we were writing about our three most favorite possessions in our lives. He knew what his were and why. At least he knew what he should write. Now, actually putting the pencil to paper was another story. Needless to say, with lots of coaching and positive reinforcement, he wrote a few sentences each about each of his favorite things. This was lots of progress from where he had been the previous year or even the previous week. Skip forward to Back to School Night...

Alexander's mom approached me and asked how things had been going. I mentioned that things are difficult, but with positive reinforcement, we don't nearly have as many difficulties. I also told her that I just keep encouraging his writing and sure enough, he's getting it done. I explained that I had a child in the same position last year who shut down when I asked, "Why isn't your work finished yet?" But when I said, "Come on, you have a few more minutes to finish your work and I know you can do it," he came alive, finished the work, and even had a smile on his face when it was over. At this point, I could see tears forming in Alexander's mother's eyes. She was so happy that I was encouraging him and progress was being made.

Although it takes almost all of my energy to be next to him during every activity in which writing is involved, it is worth it. It's worth it to see Alexander happier at the end of the day and also for his mother to know that yes, this is something that he can will be able to overcome.

Have you filled a bucket lately?

During the first week of school, I read this book to my class. To summarize, you make other people happy (and "fill their bucket") when you are happy. If you smile at someone, you are filling your bucket and theirs at the same time. When you do a good deed for someone, both of your buckets are being filled. And if you are bullying someone, you are not only emptying their bucket, but also your own too.

My class really enjoyed this book. I know this because they still talk about filling people's buckets. Some kids have connected to it more than other though...take David for example. He is the student from my previous blog who had lots of behavior problems last year. Well, he is one who comes to me on a daily basis and says, "Ms. L, can I fill your bucket?" and gives me a hug. He is very thoughtful. In fact, he was absent one day, so he gave me two hugs to make up for an empty bucket from him the day before. He is turning out to be an amazing little boy who just needed someone to fill his bucket with compliments for all the good choices he is making.

A "NEW" Kid

First off...I feel bad for not blogging from the start of the year. It's not that there has been a shortage of blog topics, it's more like there has been a shortage of motivation to log on and type the stories up.

Okay...We all know that when we get our rosters before school starts, all the teachers from the grade level below yours come see where their kids from last year are. They also tend to share information about those kids. Hopefully, they know the rule that you should only share good information. Kids are unable to start fresh each year when the old teacher tells the new teacher all the problems they had. Well, I didn't actually get "bad" information about a kid on this day. The timing in which I received the bad information for two children was after school had already started and I had already gotten to know the kids.

I met one of my students at Meet the Teacher Night. The parents were insistent that I stay on his back and not let him get away with anything. I told them not to worry, that I would do what I needed to to make it a successful year. The parents still weren't sure I would stay on top of his behavior. When it was time to look through cumulative folders to get testing information from the previous year, I stumbled across a bit of information that helped me understand how much I really needed to monitor his behavior. Let's just say that he had spent some time in a special school for behavior problems. Now, I am still unsure of his exact actions that got him to the school, but it doesn't really matter because he is doing very well in my class. Yes, he likes to talk, but he doesn't talk back (to me), and we're working on how cooperatively he works with others. I will say that I've had much worse and do have much worse behavior problems than him.

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The second little boy won my heart the first week of school. He is so sweet, kind, and helpful. I didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary about this one, until we had a meeting about him. I was asked the question,

"So, how is David* doing in class?"

Me: "He is doing great! He's very helpful to his classmates; he participates all the time; he's turning in his work; and I just love having him in class."

- "WHAT?????"

Me: "Why that reaction?"

- "Because that's very different than his behavior last year. He missed lots of school, didn't make good choices, and was not doing very all around."

Me: "Really, I would never have guessed that based on what I've seen so far this year."

- "Wow! It's only been a week and you've already changed him. That's impressive! I've got goose bumps on my arms because that makes me so happy to hear."

Me: "Well, I didn't do anything different."

When you hear things like this about kids it just makes you so happy...and so much more appreciative of the way they are making good choices, being friends to their peers, and being so respectful of you. And because I found out how he was last year, I continue to remind him how proud of him I am that he has decided to make good choices and how much I enjoy having him in class.

Singing a different tune...

These past 6 days with kids have been a bit stressful. For the most part I like my class. For the most part! I have a few issues with how things are going so far...
- The kids don't seem to care if they please me, which is usually a characteristic of a 4th grader.
- The kids won't stop talking.
- The kids are unable to listen to directions and follow them. I spend most of my day walking around to check that they have followed my directions and if they haven't, I nag them!
- They are very low in math.
- They don't participate in class. I ask questions and all I hear is crickets (and no, they are not a part of a science project).
- I don't feel the same way at this point this year as I did at the same point last year. I wanted to be sure of this, so I read the blogs I wrote during this same point last year and they sound very different than how I feel right now.

I am worn out! These kids are wearing me out. I know that I should be worn out, considering I'm getting back into the routine of teaching all day and answering 1,000 plus questions each day. BUT...I shouldn't be this tired and feel this behind. We have been unable to get through all of our work each day. I feel this is because of their inability to follow directions and attentively listen to ANYTHING!

I sure hope these feelings change, because this year will seem 10 times as long if they don't!