It is crazy how tired I get after spending a full day observing middle schoolers. But I have also heard that if you completed the day and you are exhausted then you are doing your job right! So let us hope I am on the right track!

It is hard to pick out highlights from this past week, not that my experience was terrible, but I felt that everything went smoothly. Last Thursday I got to help my 8^th grade students with their persuasive papers. They were to write an introductory paragraph with a thesis and address the 6 questions, who, what, when, where, why and how in their body paragraphs. I always enjoy students raising their hands or calling “Ms. Leavitt, can you help me?” I always admire those who admit they are having trouble and are eager to understand. I know when I was in school; I was one of those students who never asked for help, even when I needed it and would freeze when a teacher would walk by and view my work.

In my morning meeting with my coordinating teacher, we were discussing the overall behavior of 5^th period. It is the hard class of the day, the class that seems to have all the trouble makers. We came to the realization that this class excels in some activities where most of the other periods do not. 5^th period loves competitions and activities that involve getting up and doing something, whereas most other classes are content with seat work. This is just another reminder that not all students are the same. Every student prefers a different learning style.

This week I don’t have a practice I want to adopt, but one I want to make sure not to adopt. It is always the same students who get into trouble for talking, or banging on the desk or just being disruptive in general. Often times when this happens, the student will be sent to the office. I overheard one student say that he was not able to get any work done in the class because he had been sent to the office three days in a row! This can be a problem, unless the student is sent to the office with his/her work, they are not learning a thing. I think what I will do if a student is misbehaving is talk with them in the hallway or put them on some kind of step program. I hate to see a child kicked out of an environment that can be the most beneficial to them.

Today, when a student got sent to the office for talking, he stood up, yelled some foul language, and on the way out the door, knocked some books over purposefully. The sad thing was the teacher did not even bat an eye. It was almost like the action was normal. When I become a teacher, what can I do to prohibit this behavior? How will I deal with it? This is just a wakeup call to me that I will need some kind of plan for this behavior.