New Student

A new student enrolled in my class on Monday. This is his 4th school since Kindergarten (now he's in 3rd grade). When I met him for the first time he seemed like a sweet boy with a severe speech difference and some behaviors on the autism spectrum. I learned that he is only on an IEP for speech and would spend all day in regular ed classroom, my room. He is unlike any student in my room this year, although I have had similar students in the past. I knew I would need to make classroom management modifications for him, but I underestimated what a difference I would see in my class environment. It has been a week!

I had to call the principal to have the student removed from my classroom yesterday because he was disrupting my class. Some of his behaviors include: cursing, throwing chairs, pushing others, giving kids the finger/flipping them off, sticking his tongue out at others, getting into other students' desks, name calling, and screaming at the top of his lungs in other kids' faces if they upset him.

When he left with my principal I took the opportunity to have a class meeting with my 3rd graders about our new student. I explained some of the different behaviors he has and how they are not appropriate or excusable but it is more difficult for him to control his behaviors. Then I let the kids voice their concerns. I ended up with nearly 5 sticky notes filled with concerns/complaints (all in the four days that he's been here). We ended our class meeting by discussing the good qualities we notice about him. He is very smart, tells funny jokes, and likes to read.

He came back into our room as we were wrapping up our meeting and all of the kids were incredibly welcoming. In the next 10 to 15 minutes of class I saw 3 or 4 different students go up to him and talk with him about the book he was reading or ask him a question. They really went out of their way to be kind and helpful. I was one proud teacher!

I feel stuck in the middle as a teacher in this situation because I want to be accomodating to my new student and make sure that he is not frustrated in his new environment, but I also find myself playing the role as "mother bear" and wanting to protect and look out for my other students. One thing I do know, he will definitely keep me on my toes in the last two months of school!