Today I’d like to talk about Sam L. I’ve been thinking a lot about Sam lately because he presents a unique challenge to my classroom. Sam is a very intelligent kid. He is reading slightly above grade level, picks up very quickly on our daily writing workshops and had one of the highest math scores in our class on the first unit test. He also plays the violin at home and is on a soccer team outside of school. He is a very respectful and well-intentioned boy who also really likes to volunteer to help with odd jobs around the classroom.
Yet Sam can also be very naughty at times. He talks incessantly when on the rug or at his desk, has a very difficult time staying in his seat and can’t keep his hands to himself. I’ve witnessed him untying other student’s shoe laces, scratching away at the wood on his desk destroying its polished lining, poking at my shoes with a pencil (he sits right in front of me on the carpet during mini-lessons and this has become his favorite mini-lesson past-time) and running around playing tag in the middle of independent practice when students are supposed to be seated in their chairs working silently.
Of course there are very valid reasons for why Sam behaves this way—he has ADHD and struggles with Voices’ really long school days. The sad thing is that he is rarely ever ill intentioned. It seems to be largely out of his control—he simply has so much energy. The problem is that all this energy is infuriating for his teachers to deal with on a regular basis. Some days, my co-teacher and I have had to talk with him multiple times a day for multiple different behavior problems. I’ve seen him thrown out of music class, asked to sit in his chair because he can’t handle the rug in science class and forced to sit out recess because he gets to rowdy.
Because Sam is often asked to leave the classroom to cool-off, my concern is that he is missing out on social experiences and classroom activities that are crucial to his development as a 3rd grader. I think one of the issues is that he is not getting enough physical exercise in school. There is currently no P.E. and the space at Voice is very limited (recess occurs in a small parking lot with no jungle gym and there are very few opportunities for the students to really burn off energy). I think I’m going to try giving Sam more opportunities to let out his energy. I’ve watched another teacher at my school take kids out and have them do jumping hacks, push-ups, hopping games and other such activities in the hallway to burn off some energy. I think I may try some of these strategies with Sam this week and see if that helps at all. I’m also going to start look into P.E. programs at other schools to see if we can get a more solid P.E. program going in my class. Hopefully, this combined with other strategies to keep Sam engaged and challenged will help him better make it through the day.
Later,
Allen
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