Today was my last Friday working with the high school students. It was another day of work time, although there were many more disciplinary problems. I was able to walk around with the 6th hour 3D class alone while Mr. R took inventory. He had me take attendance and do what he would most of the hour. It was nice to be given a little freedom, but I think that some students saw that he wasn't walking around and proceeded to go on twitter, facebook and other social networking sites instead of brainstorming for their projects. I was able to tell them to exit those programs, and I think I handled it pretty well. I quietly walked behind the student on twitter and whispered to her, "You better exit out of that site." I then asked her what else she was working on and luckily, she had some pretty nice ideas. The rest of the hour, the whole table continued to snicker and giggle, so of course, I knew they were on another site. That time, I told them that I can take their computers from them, or sit with them the rest of the hour. They chose to exit off of the sites as I stood around and asked them about their ideas for the next project. I didn't know what sort of disciplinary action to take, so I just babysat! I'm hoping that was a good option, although I would never do it in my own classroom. It was an interesting test that although I wasn't prepared for, I handled it on my feet and felt like it wasn't the worst way to handle it.
The seventh hour class was finishing their self portraits. Only two or three students turned in the final project today, the official due date. I was surprised that the other students were so far behind. Even the students that turned it in were not truly finished in my eyes. I wish that Mr. R would think about pushing back the due date in order to get better work from the students, but his classes aren't set up the best way to allow for that. Too many students take advantage of his system already to have them take advantage of an extension. The students in seventh hour were also very loud, other students were drawing on a girl's work (because she asked them to, although she didn't admit it) and raised a discussion of cheating. I didn't know what to do when I saw it, but Mr. R caught it right away as well. He said that when another student works on a piece of art, that it is just like another student working on a test for someone. I agree with this, but I didn't know how to handle it, or his thoughts on it either!
The resource hour was also another disciplinary hassle. One student used both hands to show a offensive gesture to a friend across the room. I was helping a student while this happened, when Mr. R just happened to walk into the room. Although he held nothing against me, he asked if I was aware of it. I didn't know that the specific actions had taken place, but it was much too loud in the room. I was happy that Mr. R walked in when he did, but I also think if I would have had one more minute after helping a student, I could have quieted them down as well. I learned a lot today, which was almost stressful!
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