the blinding lack of reason

it continues to amaze me, the choices these students make.

one tick will set them off and they just can't recover, no perspective nor reasoning behind their actions.

a student became disruptive in class yesterday and was not following directions. after a brief time of letting him sit (and hoping he was gathering some thoughts) asked him to come out to the hallway.

once there, i get the silent treatment. something i can definitely handle and was slightly prepared for. one thing i do regret in my approach was that i was a bit too aggresive in the beginning, probably getting him a little bit too guarded and shutting down. but, i quickly toned it down and made sure to be a little more subdued. the reason i was a little too much too soon was because he really was being ridiculous. but obviously not the way he thought about it. also, his lack of listening to directions had me wanting to make sure he understood he needs to follow directions. anyway, round about talking here.

next, i was letting him know he is going to need to say at least a few words in order for us to be able to talk to each other. after awhile of being ignored, i let him know that he has two options. he can let me know if he needs to go to the principal or he can stay with me. still ignoring me, i let him know that if he says nothing at all, there will be consequences and he will be visiting the principal.

needless to say, he stays silent and we go upstairs and he begins to just walk around and be a general pain in the butt, nothing really bad, just a nuisance. to make this story short, he was adamant that he wasn't going to do his reflection paper and was not going to listen to me.

he thinks for a few minutes, listens to me, still adamant that he isn't doing the reflection. told him he should reconsider.

he came in the this morning with his paper.

i must have done something right. he also had a great day today. sweet.