Every now and then you can find an article in the newspaper about a teacher who either duct taped a scholar to a desk to keep him seated or taped is mouth shut to keep him quiet. When you read these types of articles you have to wonder just what the heck was that teacher thinking. Well, Gnu and I are about to finish up the third of our four grading periods and I'm thinking we may need some duct tape to survive the year. Actually we don't need the duct tape to punish a scholar who can't keep his mouth shut but to maintain our own sanity.
Duct Tape Example #1
Uh-Uh-Uh recently celebrated her birthday. When she mentioned that it was her birthday in the classroom NoFouls asked her how old she was so she told him. He responded that you can be that old. He then began arguing with her about her age. "You are wrong, you can be that old." "How can you be that old and be in the second grade? "You don't even know how old you are." The longer this conversation took place the angrier he became to the point that he was screaming at her. When it comes to NoFouls, in his mind he knows everything and will argue with anyone to prove he is right and you are wrong.
Duct Tape Example #2
A couple days ago one of the second grade teachers brought a math book to the classroom for Gnu. She informed Gnu that she was moving on to volume two of math and was giving the book to Gnu so she could keep her second graders on pace with her classroom. When NoFouls saw the book he asked the second grade teacher if he could have the book. She informed him that this was for his teacher to use. "Why can't I have the book?" "I never get anything." With each statement from him his voice and anger was rising. He then asked Gnu if he could have the book. Gnu speaking, "no, it's for me to use and not you." "But I'm in the second grade and I should have the book not you." "No, you can't have it." "How am I supposed to do my work if you I can't have my own book?" Finally Gnu realized that she is having a ridiculous conversation with NoFouls and ended the conversation abruptly by telling him if he keeps arguing about the book that he'll have to leave her classroom and he can plead his case with the Big B.
Duct Tape Example #3. By the way did you know that duct tape comes in multiple colors with fancy designs?
We are transitioning in the classroom. Everyone is told to go sit at their desk so we can switch from reading to math. I'll have the fourth graders for math and the first, second and third graders will work with Gnu at the front desk. Gnu tells the fourth graders to move to the back of the room and they do so quietly. Gnu then tells MiniJ to take a seat at the front table which he does. As soon as he sits down NoFouls starts. "You can't sit there because that is where I'm sitting". He yells, "get out of my seat." Gnu asks him to be quiet which he does but not for long. Gnu looks at EM and tells him to take a seat at the table which he does. "Why am I always last?" "I never get to go first." "Everybody always sits where I want to sit." Gnu tells him to take a seat at the table and he promptly walks up to MiniJ and tells him you are in my seat. He then tries to ease his butt onto the same chair that MiniJ is sitting on but Gnu puts a stop to that. With his anger building he finally takes a seat at the table but not before he pounds his fist on the table out of frustration because he is not in charge of the seating arrangement.
Duct Tape Example #4
The day is over. I'm putting the room back together and Gnu is walking the scholars to the bus. NoFouls was agitated when he left the room because he wasn't the line leader and as you know he insists he is in charge of everything and should be line leader. Gnu didn't agree with him and moved him back to the third position and off they went. After several minutes Gnu is back in the classroom and tells me of her wonderful walk to the bus. About half way to the bus NoFouls is still fuming about not being line leader so he does an end run on Gnu to move up front. She sees him and blocks him. He then erupts and starts dropping the F-word on her as he struggles to get passed her. Gnu directs the other scholars to continue to the bus and she moves NoFouls into our first aid room. As he continues his obscenity laced tirade he moves through the first aid room into the front office. That is a big mistake as Gnu now has plenty of reinforcements to contain him. Other member of our staff try and get him to settle down to no avail. He continues to drop the F-word on anyone in his way to include a number parental units who are in the office conducting business. He is finally moved to the Big B's office.
During our week of ISTEP testing I was sitting at my desk with my view from the back of the room when a thought entered my mind. Why don't I keep a log of some type on how often NoFouls talks out of turn in our classroom. The more I thought about it the more I liked it so I started the very next day. Because it was ISTEP testing week I couldn't start my count until 10:30am as NoFouls was out of the classroom and with Oreo while the testing took place. When NoFouls returned to the room after the testing finished I started putting a small dot on our daily behavioral log every time he started talking. So you know, the behavior log is broken down into thirty minutes increments and twice I had to make the dots smaller and move them closer together to get them to fit in a specific thirty minute block. At the end of the day when Gnu was walking the scholars to the bus pick up point I counted the dots. All total, I had one hundred and forty seven dots. When Gnu walked back into the room I told her what I was doing. She looked and me and said "how many?" When I told her the number all she said was "you're kidding." Nope!"
I tracked NoFouls inability to keep his mouth shut for two days. His dot accumulation for the two days was two hundred and sixty nine. Surely that should be enough justification for duct tape but even if it was it won't happen. In the midst of all this unnecessary talking Gnu said to me "I've figured him out, he's narcissistic. Not being a pointy headed intellectual I had to look it up. Narcissistic, having an excessive interest in oneself. That is a perfect description of NoFouls but a troubling one. As I read about narcissistic students I came across of sentence that gave me great cause for concern. Narcissistic students have a tendency toward anger and violence. NoFouls is in the second grade and for me to read that at some point he may turn violent is scary and like so many other scholars with some serious issues I wonder if he'll even see his sixteenth birthday. As much as he drives Gnu and I crazy with his endless talking I certainly hope he does.
That's it. I'm out. Time to watch a little NCAA basketball.
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