Behavior Plans & Glasses

Today I had a meeting with several other teachers to discuss creating a behavior plan for one of the students I work with. I had previously observed this student during a few of his classes and talked with a few of his teachers about problems they are experiencing during their lessons. I sent an email to all of the teachers who he has and scheduled a meeting so we could all discuss the issues/concerns and create a plan to provide him with consistent behavioral support. I gave each teacher a self control inventory and asked them to complete it based on the behaviors they see in their particular classrooms.

I was a little nervous to "conduct" a meeting like this because normally I am not really the point person in charge of anything because I always defer to the head of my department. I was pleased last week at our meeting when she passed it to me and said I could handle it.

I believe collaboration among teachers is extremely important for many reasons, but mostly because as they say in High School Musical..we're all in this together--meaning we are a team. We can support one another and learn from one another and additionally if we work well together, we make our environment better for kids.  I was really happy with the way the meeting went and how most of the teachers came prepared with information about how the student is doing in their class. We all discussed the issues and came up with a plan that works for everyone involved. It feels good to know that we are going to help this student learn how to manage his behaviors in a way that emphasizes the positive. It can be quite challenging to first and foremost get all the pertinent people in the same room at the same time, yet equally as challenging to find solutions to problems that make everyone happy. I think we did a great job of that today and it was a moment in time that made me once again feel like a professional. :0)

I also had a student who came to school wearing his brand new glasses. He has been struggling academically, so I am hoping that perhaps some of his struggles were due to poor vision, because it would be great to see some improvements. The problem is--he was not happy at all that he now has glasses. He was very self conscious and perceived that other kids would think he was a dork. I proceeded to tell him that when I was younger I got "fake" glasses with clear plastic lenses because I actually wanted to have glasses (there is something studious about glasses that is really appealing to me and I think current styles are really cute! Still wish I needed them!). Despite my attempts to convince this kiddo that wearing glasses is not a big deal, he was not having it. I had to tell him several times that the glassed don't do any good if they are folded and sitting on the desk. I was trying to think of someone really cool who wears glasses to convince him that they are not synonymous with being dorky. I was thinking...well Spiderman wears glasses! Actually no, Peter Parker did and he was kind of dorky. Superman wears glasses. Again, no, Clark Kent wore them and he was kind of dorky. Nonetheless, I think he has come cool frames and I hope he gets used to the idea of wearing them and realizes there is nothing bad about wearing glasses.

Do you know anybody super cool that wears glasses?