Student Lunch

VII Management of Classroom
11:00
Episode
About two weeks ago one of our students, who was in the general education classroom, came to our room to receive more services. In the two weeks he should have been in our classroom, he ended up being gone quite a few of those days. The absences were unexcused so we did not have to accept late work. Our grades were due this week because parent/teacher conferences are Thursday and Friday. Upon averaging his grade, he was failing in all areas. Behavior-wise he has been a problem too. It has been hard establishing a routine with this student because he has not been here. Some of his behavior problems have been because he doesn't know our rules or routine. When he is here we have a hard time getting him to finish any of his work. Between his make up work and day-to-day seatwork, he had a pile of work stacking up. Some I just took away because it was too late for him receive credit for anyways. It was reward day today. The rule is you have to have turned in all your homework previous to this day and have 2 or less papers in your 'mail box'/seatwork. He obviously had not meet our standard. The other students got to watch a movie. I had this particular student sitting inside the room, but he was trying to watch the movie. I put him in the hallway next to our classroom window. I checked on him every 3 minutes. At first he was doing a little bit of work. Then I was helping another student and looked over at him. He was rolling around all over the ground. He kept getting in trouble for many things. By the end of the movie, he had not hardly accomplished anything. This incomplete work did not help his failing grade any. I gave him a lecture about his work ethic and attitude. Then my teacher got back from her meeting and lectured again. He lost his recess and he had to each lunch with us, in our room. After lunch he had to finish his work. We set the timer in different intervals and he had to accomplish certain tasks in that time. He quickly got his work done. This student is more than capable of doing his work, he just chooses not to.

Analysis
It has been a frustrating two weeks with this student. It has been hard to get him used to our room because he has not been here. I would like to start some type of behavior plan, but that can't happen until he starts attending school. I also need a bit of time to find out what makes him tick and what he enjoys. Missing so much school, but this student so far behind. I can't possibly catch him up to the class quickly. We have limited time anyways in our room and we have a lot that we have to accomplish. It is frustrating when the student just refuses to work. I don't know how to get him motivated. This transition is probably hard for him, but it is hard to connect in the limited time he is here. It seems like we just have to be hard on him at first, so he knows what the expectations are. When we took away his lunch with friends and set the timer, he seemed to do much better. This is a short week, so next week I'll just start fresh with him and see how it goes.