Poor Spencer! During a lesson of singing and signing, fluency practice, matching words to pictures, and illustrating all centered on The Rainbow song, one of my little guys blurted out, "I'll draw whatever I want!" with just a bit too much vigor for his 1st grade teacher. In many circumstances I would celebrate such independence but he
was going to miss out on one of the essential elements of the lesson: the pictures match the words on the page, a very important reading strategy for emergent readers. I asked Spencer to stay in the carpet area so we could talk through the situation. This only frustrated poor Spencer more until he finally shouted (with wild hand gestures), "Look! I just want to draw what I want to draw!" at me. Now we've moved beyond
what he was saying and on to
how he was saying it. He tried covering his ears to shut me out as we hunkered down on our hands and knees on the floor of our classroom. After several rounds of covered ears, examples of respectful/disrespectful behavior, and a break to get a drink of water hoping to help him calm down Spencer burst into tears and I gave up for the time being. Not wanting to ignore disrespectful behavior I made a call home that evening to Spencer's dad to explain the situation. Spencer's dad said that they struggle with the same things at home so they came up with 3 Rules that help Spencer to stop and think. Here they are: 1. Does it need to be said? 2. Does it need to be said right now? 3. Does it need to be said right now by me? I'm glad we were speaking over the phone so he could not see my gaping mouth. How profound! I told Spencer's dad that I would use his 3 Rules in the classroom not just for Spencer but for all of the kids. I just have one tiny thing to figure out: How will I teach the 3 Rules to 23 six year olds when I'm not sure I've learned them myself?
Poor Spencer! During a lesson of singing and signing, fluency practice, matching words to pictures, and illustrating all centered on The Rainbow song, one of my little guys blurted out, "I'll draw whatever I want!" with just a bit too much vigor for his 1st grade teacher. In many circumstances I would celebrate such independence but he 
was going to miss out on one of the essential elements of the lesson: the pictures match the words on the page, a very important reading strategy for emergent readers. I asked Spencer to stay in the carpet area so we could talk through the situation. This only frustrated poor Spencer more until he finally shouted (with wild hand gestures), "Look! I just want to draw what I want to draw!" at me. Now we've moved beyond what he was saying and on to how he was saying it. He tried covering his ears to shut me out as we hunkered down on our hands and knees on the floor of our classroom. After several rounds of covered ears, examples of respectful/disrespectful behavior, and a break to get a drink of water hoping to help him calm down Spencer burst into tears and I gave up for the time being. Not wanting to ignore disrespectful behavior I made a call home that evening to Spencer's dad to explain the situation. Spencer's dad said that they struggle with the same things at home so they came up with 3 Rules that help Spencer to stop and think. Here they are: 1. Does it need to be said? 2. Does it need to be said right now? 3. Does it need to be said right now by me? I'm glad we were speaking over the phone so he could not see my gaping mouth. How profound! I told Spencer's dad that I would use his 3 Rules in the classroom not just for Spencer but for all of the kids. I just have one tiny thing to figure out: How will I teach the 3 Rules to 23 six year olds when I'm not sure I've learned them myself?
Ah yes... that is the secret, isn't it? Learning the lesson myself first! I've been there so many times.
ReplyDeleteI may try the 3Rule concept with my own kids today. Thanks!
I see that you're doing sign language. Would love to hear more about that sometime. Such a sweet teacher you are. Great post!
Hmmmm....I think I'll post a little note on my fridge to remind my self daily of the 3 rules.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog Debbie, Allie's First Friend. I am so very happy to meet you again (I snooped around a few days ago).