Domain VII: Communication
1:10-1:40 p.m.

Elaboration:
Today during lunch duty I had several different opportunities to communicate with different students. Often times, this is one of the most difficult times of the day in managing behavior. I was in charge of taking our class to lunch because they were too noisy to leave when the rest of 3rd grade did. In the process, I had three boys who were not following directions or hallway procedures and were being very disrespectful in the process. I told them that they would all be clipping a strip when we returned from lunch. Also at lunch, one little girl was asked to leave a table because she kept tattling and saying that the girls at her table were being mean to her. She sat at another table by herself crying and not eating anything. I stopped and talked with her and tried to explain to her why Mrs. Brown had asked her to move. I talked to her for a while and then asked her if she could please eat her lunch for me, which she than did. I also talked with some of the boys later and explained why even though they later apologized, they had to serve their punishment.

Analysis:
I think sometimes teachers communicate with each other but forget to communicate with their students. Often times, the children do not know or understand why they are in trouble. Today when communicating with the boys, I told them what they did. They apologized for behaving that way before I even talked to them about it. I also communicated to them that I did not want to have to clip strips and punish them, but that this was necessary to help them realized that their behavior was wrong. Next time,they are supposed to think about making better choices before misbehaving. In the second situation, with the little girl, she had no idea why she was moved. I explained to her that instead of complaining that people are being mean to her, Mrs. Brown wanted her to choose better people to sit by. She said she could do that next time. Also, she told me that people are making fun of her for being short. I told her that she should just ignore them because everybody is different and she is special just the way she is. She responded very well to this and agreed to eat her lunch. I think in this situation, it was very important that I demonstrate care to the student and show that although some of the problem may be choosing where to sit, she is still important. Learning to brush aside silly comments is good, but it is a very difficult thing to do unless there is a truth to replace it.