It's funny because I wrote this post in March 2012, and ended the title with the words, "lesson learned". I guess I forgot the lesson.
The good part is that I remembered, and applied it. :)
A little girl in my Book Club had been driving me crazy! She was only with me for 30 minutes, but she truly got under my skin. She walked into my room as if I was the worst thing that could happen to her. She had an attitude that was defiant. She refused to read, wouldn't join in discussions,etc..
And instead of avoiding a power struggle with her, the sensible thing to do, I engaged her. Yes, I know, I should know better. She wasn't going to get the best of me, oh no! I was going to make her change her attitude because I was the TEACHER!
One day, we began reading our new books. The kids had to watch the book trailer and then write their predictions on an index card, which then became their bookmark. ( I used Symbaloo to post the book trailers.) At the end of the story, they would be able to see if their predictions were correct.
I stood next to her a s I spoke. All the kids were excited about the new books. Not her. Her lip was out with a sullen expression on her face. And then I did something small that made a huge difference. I turned to her, handed her the index cards, and said, "J, will hand out the index cards.' J, please make sure everyone gets one."
She got up, handed out the cards, and made sure everyone got one. Sullen expression, gone. She watched the trailer, wrote on her index card, and read. Yes, she actually read.
Things went well between us after that. She read. She participated. She became enjoyable, and I'd guess, she felt the same way about me.:)
"And I know no matter how much honey you put on that spoon, there are the kids who will ...not change one iota. But, sometimes, the honey works, sometimes you catch more flies.:)"
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