October

October Reflections:

I am feeling like this would be a great time for all of us to reflect on frustrations and tense situations. I know I have many that I could share as examples. Also, this is a time of year when students start to show some of their "true" colors. They are used to their schedules, school, and the like. We need to get more conversation going as winter gets pretty tough during certain times. Talk to me.... Carolyn

So what can we do? Where do the issues stem from? Society? Parents? Alcohol? All of the above? Yeah it's frustrating and exhausting, but there has got to be other options, more things we can do. But I know, there's only so much we can do as individuals. Maybe we need an advisor program for the students, carve out some time in the day and teach manners, positive leadership, etc. I had it in my middle school and I'm sure there is curriculum out there for the upper and lower levels as well. Let's hope that our schools won't disappear and the American society will excel in the future along with the rest of the world. There's a lot of shit, but there's some good shit too. - Annika

Thanks for the input and honesty, guys. Jordee, I am a little concerned. Maybe you were having a really bad day when you replied. My initial response (with no intention of sounding nasty) would be, "When did this become about you?" Our job as educators is to meet children where they are and bring them closer to becoming responsible citizens. Are you feeling like you're not sure how to make that work? When you say that you aren't sure how much longer you want to deal with it, do you mean you aren't sure you want to hang around here or be a teacher at all? Much of what you say here makes it appear that you feel like you have no control over the things that are frustrating to you. True - that you cannot change everything to be the way you want it to be or the way it should be; but there aren't a whole lot of things in this world that we can. I disagree strongly that schools will eventually disappear. We are people. No matter how limited things become or how advanced technology, people are creatures of nature. We have inherent needs that cannot be met through technology - no matter how great. If we fear children being afraid of responsibility or face to face interaction, shouldn't we be offering more opportunities for them to practice those skills? They are only in school for a short part of their lives. Then they have to work - that requires people skills. This is about children. If children have not been given ample opportunities to practice the skills they need to be productive members of society, then we have an obligation to help make that happen, or this problem is partly our faults. If you feel this strongly about this, then you need to be talking to kids about it and incorporating these things into your lessons. We do have character ed. program. On another note, for all of us, this is a frustrating time. There are many cycles that occur during the school year. This is one of them - it's a bit of a low. There is research out there to back up how Jordee (and many others) is/are feeling. There are many teachers who have been struggling with issues the past week or two. Some are teachers with little experience and some are teachers with lots of experience. Perhaps this would be a good time for us to pursue PBIS and get school wide ground work laid. We need people who are willing to tackle those things and be an active member of a group. It takes people power to make a positive difference. If we are not willing to sacrifice our time to act as passionate as we speak, then we are being hypocritical.

Actually Jordee- Thanks for being honest about your feelings. I can't speak for society or the country, I can only deal with my world... and that means here. I am feeling some of your same frustrations this year. I feel that there are A LOT of behaviors that are going on around here that are not being addressed. It takes a WHOLE school, not just a few, to deal with poor choices kids are making. If there are no consequences for those actions, the same behaviors will continue and continue. If individuals continue to look the other way when these things take place, it will only get worse. I am afraid putting crap in someones shoe will only be the tip of the iceberg. There is so much bullying and nasty junk going on that has not been addressed. It is going to continue and it will get worse and worse. Did you ever read the book 19 minutes by Jodi Piocult? I realize that it is fiction, but it sends a really good message to those in authority that find it easier to look the other way instead of taking action. We teach the kids that for every action their is a consequence...be it good or bad. When there are no consequences for actions (good or bad) what is the incentive to make the right choices. Things are being ignored and no actions are being taken when they should be. We ALL need to be firm and have zero tolerence for some of the behaviors around here. To many people are looking the other way and not taking action. We have this "great" mission statement but its not really worth the paper its printed on if it is not being enforced. Robin

Your points are well taken. I spent three packed days in Steven's Point learning about Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. There were people there from all over WI. I spoke to presenters from IL and Florida (leaders and founders of PBIS and RtI - a long time ago). I spoke with three DPI reps. and our main support person from CESA as well as teachers from lots of districts. These frustrations are everywhere. Guess what else? Butternut was the only district there who didn't have a team - despite my begging last spring. I did have administrative support and support from the board. When it came time for district planning, I was planning things for us based on what I saw as our greatest needs. Is that fair to us, to you, to me? I didn't think so. So I asked others for their input, but they don't work here. They don't have anything invested here. DPI has committed a lot of money to PBIS and it is coming whether we like it or not. I personally like it, but I get the feeling that many people on our staff probably disagree with me. I'm not so naive as to think that many of our staff see things the total opposite from me. That's fine. Our training is very different. Our perspectives are very different. The demands of our jobs are very different.

We are not so different as from the rest of public education in other places. We probably have more discussion because of our size. We probably see more and judge more because of our size. I think people need to step back and take a look at how we could "hit kids where it makes a difference". For many of these kids, changing our discipline policies is not going to make a difference. Being more strict or more stern or slapping more negative consequences on them isn't going to make a difference. We need to be persistent with parents. We need to be consistent with kids. We need school-wide expectations. I feel that we can get "control" and find success without punitive measures or negative means.

Does anyone have ideas for how we think we can help administration and the board understand? Does anyone have ideas for me about how I can be more effective in helping our staff (which is way behind, by the way) understand PBIS and take the initial steps to implementation? I also am wondering if anyone is interested in pursuing parent support groups. The letter from a parent that explains that a child does what she wants at home so should be allowed to do the same at school, obviously needs support. C.P.

"For many of these kids, changing our discipline policies is not going to make a difference. Being more strict or more stern or slapping more negative consequences on them isn't going to make a difference. We need to be persistent with parents. We need to be consistent with kids. We need school-wide expectations." - 100% agree with you here, I think that a lot of the problems stem within the district as varied discipline proceedures, so consitency would go a long ways. J.R.

====I agree that the students seem to be in control of the school. I don't see this in all of the students but there are multiple times throughout the day where I do. It seems that some of the students seem think that they are “above the law” and that the rules don’t apply to them. I try to be consistent with expectations and consequences with all of my students but I am not seeing change particularly with the seniors. Maybe it’s because I’m stepping into a position that has been held by different teachers the past couple of years and they had different expectations of the students? I have also seen that students at Butternut tend to be fond of writing/passing notes with each other; I can only hope that they are friendly notes and there is not harassment going on. This isn’t just the case in the high school; I took two notes away from 6th grade students. At the beginning of the year my freshman/intro to tech. class was very immature (probably just a stage). After numerous warning and slaps on the wrist I did blow up on them one day, I believe that I even let a few cuss words slip. Ever since they listen to what I say and show me and their classmates more respect. In a sense I feel like I “put them back into their place” and things have been going more smoothly. Perhaps I came off as to buddy-buddy with them. I am not saying that everyone should explode at their students, this is probably the last thing that you want to do, but I am saying that it worked for me in one of my classes. In the light of things I do have to say that the overall student body is much more enjoyable than the students I worked with at Chippewa Falls last year and the staff is much more supportive in helping out with things. Sometimes I find myself overwhelmed getting things ready for my classes but I think this is common for most teachers. I thought that I would have had more curriculum coming into this position for my classes, but haven’t came across very much. It’s good that I saved a lot from college and student teaching. For a first year teacher I think that I have a pretty good grasp on things and am developing a pretty good relationship with the students. – Casper ====

I have not really had any behavior problems with the majority of my classes probably due to the fact of small numbers. I think the students could be having behavioral problems because they are not the most motivated bunch of students. As a teacher we can only provide so much of the motivation. Some of the of the motivation has to come intrisically.

The only class that is giving my problems is keyboarding. I do not have a handle on that class at all probably because I only see the students for a half an hour once a week. I have no idea where the students left off last year and first and second grade is just a nightmare because their motor skills are not there or attention span. My best class is 3rd grade because I am trying a new program with them and the students seem to love it. It is the only class that all of the students actually do work in the class. My other keyboarding classes I only have about two or three students have can complete an easy task such as keying six lines of text. This is the most ridiculous way I have EVER heard of learning. When have we thought the best way to teach is to have the student work on something for 30 minutes once a week? How long would it take a child to learn to read if they only practiced 30 minutes a week? And no one I have talked to has students work on keyboarding before 3rd grade. I do not know what to do with this class. I am just treading water with keyboarding right now. And I can tell that students here in the past have not learned how to type very fast or accurately. I know the elementary teachers need their preps by students going to these specials but I just feel I am not getting anywhere with these students. I am currently working with a student that wants to learn how to keyboard faster and started at 27 words a minute and now is at 37 in the six weeks. I would really like to teach the touch method before the students get on facebook and messangers and I have to break those habits which is hard to do because I myself had to break habits to learn the touch method in college and in a semester of learning the touch method in college I upped my words per minutes by 20. I am not sure what the best way to go about changing this but I am trying to figure out something that would work. - Andy

Thanks to whoever put the keyboarding programs in my mailbox they are a big help!! -Andy