Young Men's Club - 2/7/08

There are four students in this club who are very difficult to work with. Three of them have formed a very strong click. The fourth just has a way of pushing my buttons. The three are Jourdan, Christian, and Nasir. Nasir is probably the worst of the three because he just can't take anything seriously. He was placed in time out for at least 20 minutes and as soon as he got out, he started something with somebody. Christian was actually fairly decent today. I only had to put him in time out once. The thing about Jourdan is that he knows the difference between right and wrong, he simply tests me constantly. And I never let him slide. So it's an endless cycle. The fourth, Fernando, is just really annoying. He is clearly starved for attention. Oddly enough, he's very capable of many things. He's a good drummer, he's speaks clearly, and he's not shy about performing. I just wish he'd focus his energies on being productive. On the whole, despite the great efforts it took to get everyone together, the kids were able to perform the drumming piece successfully. More victory dances ensued. As a reward, I allowed them to have 5 minutes of, "free drumming." That's where I allowed them to just play whatever they wanted for 5 minutes. Somehow, I managed to tune them out and put the room back in order. They chose to use that time to play different beats and dance. At the end, everyone was rewarded with an extra juice for their good work. Also, I rewarded the line leaders with fuzzy toys. Line leaders are the kids who behave the best. It's usually the same 4 or 5 kids.