Young Men's Club - 3/14/08

I can't say that I didn't lose my temper today. That would be a lie. But I can say that I managed my feelings very well. Much better than I have been in the past couple of clubs. I kept things in perspective just as I had promised myself. I kept in mind the fact that I was making progress today. Even if it was a little at a time. And, as always, I never failed to bring the hammer down when they tried to test me. The club started with a 10 minute time out. During the last club, all of the boys decided that when the club ended, they could act silly and stop listening to me. When will they realize that they have to come back? When will they realize that I will always bring the hammer down? That they are never out of my mighty reach? Anyway, after the time out we played a little story telling game and as always, Nasir was being a bit of a trouble maker. And worse yet, he was attracting a bit of a following. So I had to sit him out for a majority of the club. This other kid, Leon, whose normally a pretty good kid, was starting to get caught up in Nasir's antics. So, I sat him out as well. Usually, when he gets one severe punishment he straightens up. One time I sent a letter home to his parents and he became a model student for months. I also decided to try a new tactic with Nasir. I simply told him that it was clear that the Young Men's Club wasn't the right choice for him and that I would be speaking to his mother about possibly finding another after school activity that he would enjoy more. He proceeded to beg and plead and swear up and down that he did like the Young Men's Club. But I stuck to my guns on that one. (More later) We continued to work on new drum beats for the show. I had the kids come up with and teach the other kids new beats. Some of them went way over the top and were playing these elaborate opuses. Which is admirable, but not really helpful in the process. I didn't want to have an hour long session with one kid trying to teach everyone else some drum piece he was making up on the spot. So unfortunately, I had to disqualify those from the competition. Everyone voted on the ones who came up with simpler beats. Either way, it's a process and I think we'll come up with something really good. Nasir continued to be a nuisance and disruptive and drawing attention from me. So I brought down the ultimate hammer. I announced that anyone who talked to Nasir or about what Nasir was saying or doing would be joining him in time out for the remainder of the class. Anthony attempted to test me on that. Anthony sat with Nasir for the remainder of the club. In general, I've accepted that I can't be engaging to every single student all the time. Some kids just aren't going to be into what I have to say. And I'm actually okay with that. I will simply pour my energy into the kids that want to listen and separate and tune out the other kids from the process. Of course, my door is always open and they can join. But I will not continue to make classes about keeping them in line. And just to sum up, I told Nasir's mother about his behavior and how I thought that maybe he would prefer a different after school activity. She asked me why. I said because he never pays attention to anything that I'm trying to do in the club. She asked me if this was recent. I said that it was an ongoing problem. She was not happy. And thus I layeth the Smackdown.