Zen Moment Consequences

My last post detailed the activity I give for a co-safe referral. It did not, however discuss the consequences of receiving a co-safe. The activity the student will complete during the co-safe minutes are to color a mandala. The consequences are the same if a student has to color or write.

The consequences of receiving this redirection are two-fold. One and most importantly is the dreaded phone call to a parent. In my experience, the best way to redirect a child's behavior is to contact a parent. I'm a notorious parent phone caller. Mostly because I'm a mom and I would prefer to hear from a teacher first if there is a problem before I hear it from my son. But, also... because I'm a middle school teacher, communication with parents is just the best way to ensure success.

The second consequence is the co-safe is recorded in our in-house violation system. Regardless of the activity the student has to complete during the co-safe, if it is assigned, it is recorded. A recorded co-safe violation results in exclusion from the beloved Fun Friday activity our school provides every other week. And if you know anything about kids, you know exclusion is the worst form of punishment.

Finally, exclusion from my vibrant Drama classroom is always a consequence. Having to sit in another classroom and miss out on the fun that goes on in a Drama classroom is a consequence of co-safe. I almost always get a hand-written apology from a child who was sent out of my room. Mostly because he/she heard about all of the fun we had in class and nobody likes to feel left out.

However, the co-safe consequence is intended first and foremost to serve the student. Meaning, the student's behavior was so inappropriate, he/she got kicked out of class. But, the reason for that behavior must stem from somewhere... some kind of discontentment or emotional turmoil. Happy kids don't act inappropriately. Sad kids do. So, the zen moment meditation of coloring a mandala serves to allow the child to reflect, calm down and feel accomplished. It is intended to serve the child. Serve. And that is the most important verb all teachers must remember.

What is best to serve the child's need?

Zen Moment Consequences

My last post detailed the activity I give for a co-safe referral. It did not, however discuss the consequences of receiving a co-safe. The activity the student will complete during the co-safe minutes are to color a mandala. The consequences are the same if a student has to color or write.

The consequences of receiving this redirection are two-fold. One and most importantly is the dreaded phone call to a parent. In my experience, the best way to redirect a child's behavior is to contact a parent. I'm a notorious parent phone caller. Mostly because I'm a mom and I would prefer to hear from a teacher first if there is a problem before I hear it from my son. But, also... because I'm a middle school teacher, communication with parents is just the best way to ensure success.

The second consequence is the co-safe is recorded in our in-house violation system. Regardless of the activity the student has to complete during the co-safe, if it is assigned, it is recorded. A recorded co-safe violation results in exclusion from the beloved Fun Friday activity our school provides every other week. And if you know anything about kids, you know exclusion is the worst form of punishment.

Finally, exclusion from my vibrant Drama classroom is always a consequence. Having to sit in another classroom and miss out on the fun that goes on in a Drama classroom is a consequence of co-safe. I almost always get a hand-written apology from a child who was sent out of my room. Mostly because he/she heard about all of the fun we had in class and nobody likes to feel left out.

However, the co-safe consequence is intended first and foremost to serve the student. Meaning, the student's behavior was so inappropriate, he/she got kicked out of class. But, the reason for that behavior must stem from somewhere... some kind of discontentment or emotional turmoil. Happy kids don't act inappropriately. Sad kids do. So, the zen moment meditation of coloring a mandala serves to allow the child to reflect, calm down and feel accomplished. It is intended to serve the child. Serve. And that is the most important verb all teachers must remember.

What is best to serve the child's need?

Zen Moment

If a student has not responded to numerous redirects, but hasn't actually broken any rules to be "sent to the office", our school has what's called "co-safe". We send the student to another teacher's classroom with an assignment for a "time out". It's an effective method that also decreases office referrals which allows for both the student and teacher to take a breather. And when teaching middle school students, sometimes we all need a breather.

However, I was stumped as to what to create for my co-safe assignment. As an English teacher, I obviously don't like to assign writing as "punishment". Rewriting the school rules doesn't seem very productive either. So, when my students showed an interest in mandalas (because our genius Math teachers use mandalas in our school), I was inspired.

I bought a mandala coloring book and copied pages from it. Attached is a little note that reads, "You need what I call a Zen Moment. Take the coloring pencils and spend your time coloring in this mandala. You may return to my classroom tomorrow with a clean slate".

Obviously from the popularity of adult coloring books, the research proves that concentrated time coloring is a great way to calm down, focus energies and rejuvenate. Meditation is a great way of redirection. At the end of the activity, the student can feel a sense of accomplishment. I have yet to meet students who don't enjoy coloring and the purpose of "co-safe" is not punitive, but redirection. I think this co-safe assignment is inventive and productive. Not only that, meditation as a method of redirection is research-based. Proven effective. And a great method to help students learn to concentrate to de-escalate. The goal is for the student to be able to attend the rest of his/her classes productively. Coloring a mandala is an obtainable goal with quick result. At the end of co-safe, the child has something beautiful he/she created and feels a sense of calm.

And I believe that is the goal of disciplinary redirection.

Leestown OUTLOUD

Leestown OUTLOUD performing at TEEN HOWL POETRY SERIES 2016

Hello, Year Two!

It's the start of my second year at this middle school developing a drama program and I could not be more happy. For one, I have established relationships with so many students, discipline and classroom management are just not issues. What's more important? I am delving more deeply into the academic aspect. I'm no longer creating, I have the luxury to tighten and to more sharply focus the lessons.

I am delighted. Wake up every morning so excited to spin magic in the classroom. Lesson plans consume my thoughts and the students inspire more creativity than I ever thought possible.

The spoken word performance poetry group that I organized last year grew from five members to twelve members in just this one year. Eager, beautiful minds delighted by the idea of their words dancing on the page and coming to life on the stage.

I'm grateful to break this blog back open because when I begin rehearsals for the overly ambitious full-length school play I intend to stage... you are going to be privy to all of the delicious drama that comes with daring to reach for the stars.

And why not? What else is there to do in life, really?

Teach What You Love?

Of course, I created a Poetry Recitation Unit within the Speech and Drama curriculum. Why wouldn't a poet include what she loves most of all? I spent months researching poems for my children to recite. Clips of "famous" poets reading because one thing I want my students to learn is that there is more than one way to read poems. Not just "Ms. Beck's Way". Many different styles, breath, perspectives to watch, model and learn. And certainly more accomplished, better published and better writers than just their old teacher.

So, imagine my consternation to learn that my students had never even heard of Maya Angelou. What in the what what? It just never occurred to me. Maya Angelou has been a staple of my classroom instruction since the dawn of time. Her picture hangs over my desk and within the collage of images I created on my walls. Never heard of Maya Angelou? How can that be?

Now, I do have one student whose mother is absolutely thrilled her daughter is reading "Phenomenal Woman". That was quite heartening. But, the other young women just looked at me with a blank stare. Of course, I assigned them the task of researching this poet with their parent for today. I don't have computers in my classroom or I would have directed them immediately to research. But, that's a topic for another essay.

The point is... sometimes it's hard to teach what you absolutely love because when the work is not respected as you hoped, it can be rather demoralizing. However, how grateful I am to introduce my students to Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikky Finney, Juan Felipe Herrera, Richard Blanco, Matthew Zapruder, John Ashbery, Sandra Cisneros, Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Frank X Walker and Bianca Spriggs. Local poets mixed in with nationally renowned poets. Everything in between.

The sixth graders are doing their own exploration of Shel Silverstein. I decided that because I always teach kids to NOT rhyme in poetry because they'll sound like Dr. Seusss, they should hear what good rhyming poetry can sound like. And, because the content is perfect for these young, young kids. I always forget how young they are. Have learned a lot from this first quarter class.

I just pray that planting these seeds will take root as they grow. Exposing them to the world's most beautiful poetry cannot be a bad thing. It's just taking a bit of a toll on this poet's soul. But, once they recite their poems... I just know it will be all worth it.

New Quarter

As I spend my Saturday planning the last unit of the Speech and Drama nine week elective course, I must admit my feelings of sadness. Here's the thing. I love my pickles. It takes a few weeks to bond (let alone to learn all of their names: ha!) and now... in two short weeks, I must bid farewell and greet a whole new batch of pickles. Sigh.

I guess "da flip side" of this situation would be if I had a group of pickles who I did not like... every nine weeks, I get rid of them and get a "do-over". But, alas. I haven't met a class I haven't adored. What in the what what is wrong with me anyway? I just get so attached to my kids. The more I learn about them, the more I love them. We've bonded. They've "gotten" all of my procedures and quirks and rhythms in the classroom. Oh, if only this course was even a semester long... how much more deeply into the curriculum we could delve.

Because I am "creating" this curriculum, it is quite a dynamic process. I find these awesome opportunities (educable moments) as I go along and it's not uncommon for me to be pulling up research and lessons even an hour before class filters into my room. So, I guess from that perspective, the cyclical nature of the rotating nine weeks is good because this quarter will be even better and more polished than last quarter and next quarter, I hope to achieve mastery. Perhaps there's a nostalgia for this "first" group because they were my "test" group. I "tested out" some lesson plans. Some I will toss away completely. Others, I will repeat. I have such an affection for this first group for being so responsive to whatever it is I created and "tried out".

But, it's not as if I won't see these first quarter pickles in school or that I won't have opportunity to teach them again in seventh grade (if they're sixth graders now) and eighth grade (if they're seventh graders now)... but still.

I'm going to miss this first quarter group so much. With that, I take a deep breath and look forward to greeting a whole new class of shining happy faces.