When we last left Warren he was in a quandry as to how he was going to calm down his overenthusiastic 6th graders. Will he be able to calm them down without yelling? Will he leave their self-esteem intact? Will Simon LeGree get the mortgage to the farm? Oh, and what about Bob? Let's step into room 21 and see for ourselves in this week's episode of . . . . You Don't Scare Me, I Teach Middle School!

Today I decided to revisit our classroom norms which I established at the beginning of the year. Well, not really. Actually, the students and I together did this. All parties involved came to an agreement as to how our classroom should run. The problem I have been having is that the kids just get to talking too much during any down time that occurs between tasks, and sometimes during tasks. I reinforced something I have been doing all year by introducing Harry Wong's "Give Me Five!" It seems to have gone well, and my class that has been giving me headaches about this seemed to come to order much better.
I've been using choices so far this year, but I decided to use something directly from L&L. I asked two boys who couldn't be quiet if they would like to stay in the room or step outside. Needless to say, they chose to stay in the room. Did they remain quiet? Not entirely. As a result, they will get a write-up when we return to classes.
About write-ups: I don't like them. I hate the paperwork involved. I shudder to think about how much time I would spend documenting every little thing that happens in my room. As a result, my discipline book is pretty thin. I prefer to keep my disciplinary actions "in the family", i.e.: I like for it stay in my room and not bleed over into the asst. principal's office. One good thing about this is that he knows that when I send someone his way, he is assured that I have tried everything in my bag of tricks. (That bag is pretty small since I am so new.) This is a hangover from my time as a supervisor in the private sector and as an NCO in the Army National Guard. The fewer problems you send the boss, the happier everyone is in the end. The down-side to all this is that I think that the kids know I am hesitant to write them up. I guess I am going to have to become hard-hearted at that. To help keep myself organized, I am carrying a clipboard around the room with my roll sheets on it. If I have an incident that merits a write-up, I just note it in the appropriate place on the roll sheet. That way, by the end of the day, I am able to go over what happened despite my mind having been turned to mush.
Looks like we'll miss the next two days of school, hopefully we won't lose power so I can post here.
Return tomorrow for the next installment of our ongoing saga. Same Bat-cave, same Bat-Time.