gadgetorial seduction

My good friend shared an article with me yesterday on controlling impulses. I spend a good amount of time in her classroom with a few students who are working on some behavior issues. The article was interesting and had some really funny terms such as "gadgetorial seduction" which refers to students who are unable to resist tempting objects.

If you are a teacher, I would be willing to bet that you are now picturing a student you know who succumbs to gadgetorial seduction. A student who is constantly playing with pencils, erasers, small toys etc. and someone who might even occasionally fall victim to being gadgetorially seduced by all of the interesting things that teachers keep on their desks like Post Its, stickers, and colorful markers. I once found a collection of my dry erase markers in a student's desk last year and somehow during a math game day, the dry erase markers that were included in a particular game ended up in his coat pocket. At the time I spoke seriously with this student about stealing, yet I should have known that he was just seduced by the gadgets...

All kidding aside (I just can't help but kid with a term like gadgetorial seduction in the mix) the article gave me some ideas about how to help students that have difficulty controlling impulses. The article also recommends a few books that can be used to help teach students about controlling themselves.  I think books are always a great way to help kids understand concepts that might be a little abstract to them. These books relate behaviors to animals which is a good strategy to help kids understand without making them feel like something is wrong with them or that they should feel bad about themselves. 

In searching for the picture books, I also came across another book about how to teach self control, which I immediately asked my department head to order and she did! I am excited to read it because what teacher doesn't want to gain better control of the classroom? I know I have improved at classroom management a lot since I first began teaching, but I would say it is the area that I struggle with the most. I am not bad at it, but the green eyed monster always rears its ugly head when I walk into a classroom and the kids are all on task and working quietly. I don't have the magic that makes that happen yet! My room always tends to be a bit more rambunctious. Not at all out of control and I always have the ability to get the kids re-focused and quiet, but at any average moment, working time is not usually super quiet.  Luckily, the same friend who shared the article with me is very skilled at classroom management, so I have learned a lot from spending time in her classroom this year.

I am excited to learn more about helping kids control their behaviors and impulses and I will definitely share any good ideas that I come across! I am in the process of creating a behavior plan for one student, which can be difficult because I always found it was hard (as a classroom teacher) to keep up with and be consistent with behavior plans. As a team, we don't really want to tie the plan to rewards because we feel that the student needs to learn how to behave appropriately simply because that is the expectation. I want to come up with something that is easy to use but truly helps this kiddo differentiate between behaviors that are acceptable at school/in the classroom and those that are not.

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On another subject...I was really excited for today because Winter Term is officially over. I submitted the last of my assignments yesterday and now I am free from homework and projects until we return from Ireland on Easter Sunday! Despite my happy day attitude, today has been kind of crappy. 

Something at work made me really frustrated and I don't know whether I was at fault or not. I guess what it comes down to is that I am a perfectionist, a people pleaser, and very sensitive. Sometimes that combination can be dangerous. I like to do a good job at what I do and I don't ever like to disappoint anyone. Although I might get hurt feelings if someone confronted me about something, I would rather have people be open with me so that I can continue to improve my skills and how I work and communicate with other professionals for my job. Sometimes communication can be  real barrier to positive working relationships and I was left feeling like maybe I had messed up, but I wasn't even really sure. I don't like feeling unsure about how I handle myself at work, so I came home today really upset. Since then I have been in a bla mood.

The apartment was a disaster area, so I did a lot of cleaning, ate some chocolate, caught up on some shows and tried to bask in the gloriousness of the sunny day and not having to do homework or write any more papers. In the midst of cleaning, I dropped a frying pan on my foot and now it is killing me. I just can't shake the feeling of being annoyed by the day. I am supposed to go get a quilting lesson this afternoon to learn how to make the second star pattern on my quilt. Maybe that will cheer me up.

At least I still have "gadgetorial seduction" to make me chuckle.

How do you cure yourself of a foul mood?

Is it important to you what other people think of you?

Do you take criticism personally or do you let it roll off your back?