Today was fairly uneventful.
I've been fully in charge of the classroom for a while now, and I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with my position.
The kids don't respect me as an authority figure.
Reading is always the worst part of the day. It's a harder subject for many of our students and the Language Arts components aren't always the most interesting. I have plans to improve things by adding a literature circle component, but as of now, I haven't made it that far.
A certain child with previous behavior issues challenged me today during reading; he was defiant and refused to obey any direct instructions that were issued to him. He was great during the entire rest of the day, and only began to misbehave while in math. If I am the primary instructor, he feels as though he shouldn't be expected to respond to my requests. Instead, he pushes the limits or outright defies me. Today isn't the first time it's happened; I doubt that it will be the last.
I wish I knew more about how to handle a situation like this. I could send him out to the hallway or another teacher's classroom, but if I do that, my mentor feels that he has won. Next year when I am alone in a classroom, I don't know how I will garner support or require my students to behave appropriately. I've read about classrooms where the community component is so strong that the children appreciate the instructor and simply behave because they are expected to. That's the classroom I want to strive for; I don't know if I'm prepared to get there as of yet.
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