Student Removal from Class - Safety

Over the past 6 weeks of being in this school I have had some negative encounters that really make this job difficult. The hardest ones are interactions that happen in classes of my own.

In particular, there is one year 10 student who clearly does not want to be in class, and works very, very hard at making sure I know this. For the first few weeks, he would come to class and walk around most of the lesson without doing any work.

Then, he started to talk back - rude, abusive stuff. Not serious, but under the breath and horrible. The worst part of all these actions was knowing that he was distracting one of his friends who actually has potential and who actually wants to learn (secretly of course). I found it hard to cope with him in my classes, and started to resent this particular class.

Finally, the behaviour started to worsen. He openly admitted to waiting for me to kick him out, and acting up to get kicked out on purpose. He was making my lessons hard and quite emotionally draining. I found it hard to enjoy these kids, when in fact there was only one student in the class who made it hard. The behaviour got so bad that he started deliberately cutting himself with the craft knife. This happened three lessons in a row. I finally approached it from the angle of “self harm” and threatened to appoint him to the councillor.

The cuttings stopped after that.

After sending him out weeks on end, I asked one of the senior member of staff for advice. I am amazed at the support and help she offered - and I am thankful. This member of staff came to some of my classes and watched him in action - he was on form. She ended up taking equipment off him and escorting him out of the classroom.

We had a meeting and spoke about what the issues were. It seemed he was not at all happy with the classroom environment which was to do with the content. He made it seem like it was nothing personal, but it is very difficult not to take it that way.

We discussed the issues with the helpful senior staff member leading the discussion - it was really nice to hear him speaking like a person not an angry teenager. I think this must have been nice for him as well, to finally have his anger heard in a safe environment, and to know that change is on its way. It was also very nice for me.

The conclusion was that this student was removed from my class. I know that this cannot always be the solution, but I am thankful that it was this time. As a beginning teacher it is a scary feeling knowing that in a particular class there is a student waiting and trying to get removed - by any means necassary. It was horrible to think that in this lesson a student would be removed, and I would have to have horrible manners and attitudes to put up with.

Today, I had the best lesson with this group that I have ever had. They were moaning and groaning during the introduction, but once we got into the work they were head first - there was even a moment of silent working!! AMAZING!

I cannot believe how much one student can change a classroom. How much they can change my attitude, and how much they can alter my perception of an entire group. I must learn to look past individuals I think, because it was unfair on the others to approach class with that type of feeling. It was also unfair on the student for him to have to put up with the class that he hated, but it was very unfair on me to be treated as he treated me. This situation really enforced how important it is for me to create a SAFE environment, emotionally and physically for all students.

#Safety #Pastoralcare #Criteria2