School expectations, what is reasonable(1st Gr)

I hope teachers chime in as well.

What level of control over a class is it reasonable to expect? How much time in the early grades should a teacher spend re-directing poor behavior?

At this point in the year, would you expect to see improvement, no change or decline in regards to student behavior and cooperation and command of the classroom?

 

At this point, 100% of control should be expected. The first week of school (1st grade), I gave each student a behavior form that went home on Fri and needed to be signed and returned on Mon. On it, would be how many times if any they got moved to green, yellow or red for the week. As the weeks went on, I stopped sending them home with students who never got in trouble. About 2 months in, I would have 2 or 3 that I would continue this practice with. During those early weeks though, I moved a ton of kids (on the stoplight or flipping cards system) for little things. I found if I got on kids for small things right away, they would realize I meant business. I also noticed that kids who were really good got quite upset if they had to move on the stoplight and never would have it happen again.

In first grade I think very little time SHOULD be spent on poor behavior. I am sure it is different in all schools/communities but where I was at, 1 or 2 students would need the discipline system throughout the year.

If you give more specifics, Id be happy to help.

 

Teachers don't get paid nearly enough!!!

My DS is in a private school currently where he has been since age 2. He has done well there up until recently. He and I both really like his teacher. This is her first year in first grade, has taught 4th and 5th previously as well as a math specialist.

We have received 2 formal notes regarding behavior in the past week and she has commented a few other times on him being silly and having a hard time sitting still. His first marking period was good except for self control. He is doing well academically - but not to where he is bored.

My DH and I both observed (on different days) his class this week. Yikes! It is a small class (15) but there are 3 who act up and are disrespectful repeatedly and 3-4 more who chime in occasionally. My DS appears to be a follower by being silly when others are as well. We are working on this and trying to offer incentives and loss of privaleges at home to reinforce school expectations.

The frequent need for correction or redirection is really limiting the teaching time and I think contributing to losing the of the kids.

My biggest concern is my DS is really not liking school anymore and behavior at home has gottten worse since school started this year.

Thanks for any advice.

 

This concerns me too. My son has a student in his class who is naught. I know him from baseball. I was upset they were in class together because I did not want all the time in class being focused on this boys behavior as it was in baseball. It ends up this teacher is perfect for this boy and very calm and the combination of them works.


I think back to my first year and cringe! There were students in there with behavior issues and I did not handle them well at all so the behavior continued and it ruined so much for other students. I really feel bad for by class that year! The next year I changed so much with both the way I talked to students and things I did in my class so that they were not disrupting the whole class. I think so much of what happens is how good the teacher is. A good teacher should be able to control all different types of situations and behaviors. If a student was being disruptive on the carpet that first year, I would have went back and forth with them about what was happening and then all other students would have been forced to be a part of that. Then I learned to say, go to your seat and come back when you are ready to listen and then I would move on and the issue with that student would still be there and I would talk to them about it later but the other kids could focus and did not have to listen to the child being naughty.