"Troublemaker"

 I have been placed in Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School specifically in the Pre-K classroom with the special education students. I have only been to two sessions so far and have learned quite a bit about the students I work with. On the first day I arrived, the teacher had a wall of her students up and had different symbols labeled on them. She went through and explained what the star meant (non verbal), what the exclamation mark meant (behind in the class) etc. This one student, I will call him Justin, had a symbol on his picture that no other student had. When I realized this, I asked the teacher what the square meant on his picture. She explained to me that Justin usually doesn't listen well in class, it takes several different times to ask him before he listens if he does at all. She continues to tell me he likes to make fun of his peers, usually doesn't have a safe body in the classroom, but overall a smart student. 

I had been observing the classroom in the back just getting a feel for the environment and the students vibes. I noticed another teacher in the class, Male, had frequently asked Justin to sit himself safely In his chair or it would fall backwards and he would hurt his head. This teacher asked Justin about six different times and each time he would sit appropriately for about 3 minutes and then continue to rock in his chair. Other times he would get up and invade his friend's space or just wander around the rug, he was asked to return to his seat with a frustrated tone at this point.

Once I had observed the beginning of the class for about 10-15 minutes it was time for the students to progress around the classroom and play with whatever activity they chose, the sand box, art, kitchen, trains, etc. Justin made his way over to me and asked for my name and what I was doing in his classroom. I explained to him that I was Miss. Dakota and that I would be in his classroom every Wednesday for the next few weeks hanging out with him and his friends. He asked if I could play with him in the kitchen. We headed over to the kitchen where some other students were. He immediately would grab toys out of other students hands and play with them himself. That student would feel upset their toy was being taken and start crying, he would just sit there and laugh or mimic them crying. I explained to him that doing this wasn't being a nice friend and maybe instead of taking the toy, you could share. After only being in the kitchen area for a short period of time, he was just running around the classroom, full of energy. One of the teachers asked him to sit on the rug until his body was calm enough to resume playing. 

Seeing a student, not even in Kindergarten, get put in timeout and have to watch his friends play I felt could hurt his big emotions. He sat there quietly, did not make a sound, and just observed with the most quilted look on his face. I don't know if it was intended he sat there for 10 minutes or if he was forgotten by the teacher, but he was in time out for 10 minutes. For just running around the classroom, I felt that was extreme for a little boy so full of energy. 

After the kids had time to play, it was time for their snack. Justin sat down in his assigned seat where again he began to rock back and forth and was told multiple times to sit safely. 

On day two of being in the classroom, I was observing the same traits of Justin "acting out" and having to deal with "consequences" where he would be told over and over with more frustration every time to behave. On this particular day, it was on the warmer side and the students were able to go outside. Out of every single student that was outside, Justin had the most energy. Running around, jumping around, playing with everything and anything. After seeing this, it was clear to me that the teachers are having a hard time adapting to what Justin needs in class. He seems so full of life and so energetic and just needs something in class to keep him busy. It makes sense for someone so young to have trouble sitting in their chair for a long period of time when all they might need is something to fidget with to keep them busy while engaged with the content. Instead, it almost seems like these teachers are able to just easily label him as the troubled student in class. They find it easy to put him in timeout and Justin seems to be confused as to why he is in timeout. There are students in this class who hit each other and just get told to have safe hands. Justin gets put in timeout for running around the classroom trying to use the energy he has for such a young child.