“All students deserve their teacher’s attention. Finding ways to care for each child in the class and not only those who demand attention is a persistent challenge.”
I am very excited to implement my Vocabulary ImagineIT project with all my students to strengthen their mathematical discourse in the classroom and make connections in the real-world. How can I do this with the following dilemma?
Dilemma: This year, I teach mathematics to 94 out of 104 8th grade students. Two of my classes have 35 students each and my third class has 24. My dilemma this year is having about a handful of students from each of my larger two classes seeking attention, mostly negative, by distracting others around them, not being on task, showing anger, shutting down with emotions, sadness, and misbehaving by blurting out/laughing with inappropriate sexual language.
Solution: The students are seeking someone to talk to, who will listen. I have already begun to speak with my students on a one-to-one basis and some with support from a colleague to address the inappropriate sexual language. The next step, with a couple of students that this pertains to, would be to contact their parent(s) and inform them. I have reached out to the counselor about a few of the students whom she services. I plan on contacting parents of those students who are disengaged (without improvement) and write referrals for them with my concerns to the counselor.