Day 178: Hae Keun
So the good news is that my former problem child in my class of pre-schoolers, Eugene, has been a peach the last couple of weeks. The bad news is that another one of my kids is proving to be much more challenging than she ever was!
Ever since we put Eugene on a star-chart program, where I award her with stars in various categories for her behaviour, she has almost done a 180. She's had a few small minor cries here and there but there hasn't been a big tantrum since - and that's been a huge relief for me, that's for sure!! The odd time she has cried, she'll cry a bit for like a few minutes, but then she stops and she's all smiles again. Such great progress - go Eugene!!
My current challenge in the class is a student named Hae Keun (pronounced Hay-Gun.) He was a bit of a pain before, right from the beginning, but it has progressively gotten worse. Hae Keun proves to be difficult to manage for several reasons. He's very energetic and enthusiastic in class, but sometimes this proves to be more of a curse than a blessing. He's a bit bigger than the other kids and when he gets really excited he tends to want to run around, flail his arms, or jump, and he often mows down a kid or two in the process! Almost daily I have to comfort other crying children who've been unlucky enough to be in Hae Keun's path when he's got a burst of energy. I had been warned about this ahead of time, and try to prevent it, but it's hard to try and keep him calm and maintain his enthusiasm for learning at the same time.
The main problem is Hae Keun's temper. Like Eugene, he also doesn't like to hear the word 'no', and gets very angry when he doesn't get his way. Unlike Eugene's screaming and crying, Hae Keun tends to act out by yelling at the top of his lungs, stomping his feet, hitting a student, or throwing an object across the room. Again, because of his size, this can result in other kids getting hurt. He's also extremely sensitive to the other kids and the slightest tease or taunt from another student can send him into Angry Yelling Mode. This definitely wears down on my patience (and my ears) each and every day. He doesn't like to listen to teachers (myself or any of the others) and sometimes, upon being scolded, either begins to cry or refuses to do anything but sit and pout the rest of the class.
I've tried a few tactics with him but must admit that I haven't had much luck. In fact, it seems that his temper is actually getting worse. I had to take him out of the class today and have a chat with him in the hallway about his temper tantrums, and this actually seemed to work quite well. However, I can't be doing this every day and need to come up with a better solution. I'm thinking of trying the star chart system with him too, and actually I'm strongly considering having it as a Parrots Class daily solution. I may as well get all of the kids on it and see how it turns out. It would be great if this was as successful with Hae Keun as it was with Eugene!
I love my pre-schoolers but they definitely wear me out. Four blocks with them everyday is a lot and by 1:30pm I'm happy to see them off. I've realized that I much prefer teaching the older kids (they listen better, there is much less classroom management, and the more advanced material is fun to teach) but I've got my pre-schoolers for the next year so I've got to find some new tricks for the classroom. Calling all teachers...any suggestions?
posted by S2H at 5:09 p.m.
3 Comments:
Well, Scott, you're definitely on the right track. Incentive programs are always effective, because every kid, no matter how cranky or bratty, likes to be rewarded.
If Hae Keun doesn't respond to your star-chart, try him on a token economy of sorts. When he does something good, he earns tokens or tickets or whatever. You *can* try taking them away when he's doing something negative, but that depends on how willing the kid is to participate. Anyway, at the end of the week or whatever, if he reaches his goal of however many tokens, he can 'buy' a reward (i.e. small toy or candy or pencil or something like that).
It's along the same lines of your star chart, only it's individualized, which some kids need. I had the older Canadian version of Hae Keun this past year... the other thing that worked well was to make him feel important. My student really liked to help out and be the hero. It kept him enthusiastic and it kept him moving. Kids like this seem to need movement breaks. Send him around to do odd jobs for you, even if you've made something up for him. He'll feel important and be focused on something other than being a pain in your butt. And the best part is that he's moving around and burning off some of that energy.
The other thing that I found works with a whole class is what I like to call 'game minutes' (this is the wisdom I got from Core French which no kid really likes). At the beginning of class I'll put like 15 on the board, which represents 15 minutes I have at the end of class for some sort of game. Every time someone engages in a negative behaviour, like maybe talking out of turn, they lose a minute. It's like letting the rest of the kids do the discipline for you... peer pressure, even at this age, is effective. Nobody wants to lose this reward, and they'll lean on Hae Keun or whoever for you. And, it saves you from having to stop your lesson. You just have to reach up and cross off a number and make a new one, while you're talking. In fact, peer pressure is like your secret weapon.
Oh, and the other one is one I learned from a wise colleague -- Plan B. Nobody really knows what Plan B is, but you tell the kids it's the worst thing they can imagine. So you sit Hae Keun off to the side, have a chat with him and say "Okay, and if this doesn't work, it's Plan B." and when they ask you what Plan B is, you simply reply "You don't want to know.". It sounds mean, but it's really effective when nothing else is working. Trust me, I had a really challenging group, and I never actually had to make up a Plan B. It's kinda funny watching them speculate what Plan B could possibly be.
Sorry for the babble everyone, I get carried away sometimes. Hopefully this stuff works for you. Good luck Scotty, look out Hae Keun!! :)
Leese
12:35 a.m.
the kid really sounds like he suffers from a psychological disorder. he kinda sounds like the ADHD poster child -- i was a bit like that at home when i was younger... the mood swings are troubling, too. i had symptoms of bipolar disorder when i was as young as five. everyone just thought i was cranky... does your school have a mental health professional? what's the attitude on that in korea?
5:21 a.m.
Welcome to the wonderful world of teaching Scotty. This is the main reason I chose to be a grade7-12 teacher. But not because it's less classroom management let me tell you. Even with older kids you still have plenty of classroom management. Remember with age comes brains and they only get more brillant in their need to outthink you. The other thing is you'll get a few older kids that still throw hissy fits except it's a little more detrimental to you or some unlucky piece of classroom furniture.
It sounds as if these kids in your class are just looking for attention. If pulling him out of class was helpful it was probably because you're giving him individual attention. So the general solution is you need to find a way to make them feel special without wasting precious classroom time.
2:34 p.m.
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