I began writing a teacher’s journal on the second day of teaching through the Los Angeles County Department of Education, children aged 4-7, children in danger to themselves or others.
The journal is based on the goals of THINK LIKE A WRITER and THE COOPERATIVE CLASSROOM. But it has the additional function of documenting contact with administrators, parents, itinerant teachers, and medical information, behavioral issues, as well as setting academic and behavioral objectives
The daily journal should be dated and in a bound notebook. If a computer is used, each day should be a new document so that each entry has a creation date. The teacher is creating a legal document that can be used with administrations, if necessary, in legal proceedings.
Here is my Story
I was teaching what, in retrospect, was the most challenging class I ever taught. You might be surprised to know that these students were 4 to 8 years old. I worked in a school for severely emotionally disturbed. This is where my experiment in using art to transform began. I kept a daily journal. Here is an excerpt.
Journal from my Classroom, SED Students
Jaylene, Chris and Jeremiah came off the bus fighting. Eight-thirty a.m., and my room was trashed. All three kids were cussing, throwing things, and hitting each other. I could not get the students’ attention long enough to calm them down. Jaylene and Jeremiah were finally taken to the timeout room. (These were locked cubicles where students were taken when they were endangering themselves or others. During lunchtime, I was in the teachers’ lounge when Patty, my aide, rushed in and announced that Jaylene had run off campus. She had crossed the busy street and climbed ae four-story firefighters’ practice building. It is a cement building that they lite in fire and trained new firefighters to rescue people. It had a four-foot high window, but no glass or screens. When I arrived, Jaylene was standing on the windowsill of the fourth story. She had her belt around her neck, like a noose, and was threatening to jump. The firefighters were on the ground looking up at her. Next to the firefighters were some of the school’s assistants. They were yelling at her to get out of the window, but she wasn’t listening. That is when I came up from the teacher’s lounge. I ran up the stairs to the fourth floor and stepped into the room. Jaylene was on the windowsill with the belt still around her neck. I wondered whether I should run and grab her or try to talk her out of the window.
I calmly said, “I think we should talk about this.”
She said, “F—-you.”
I ran and grabbed her. I had no idea whether this was a good idea. My heart was pounding. Holding on to Jaylene, I looked down the four stories. The firefighters and half a dozen staff members from my school were looking up at me.
“Jaylene,” I said calmly, you know you are not supposed to leave the campus without permission.”
The principal ordered Jaylene to the timeout room. While I was with Jaylene, Christopher was crying and running around the room. Then he scratched Francis, the timeout aide, and was taken to the timeout room. Adrian was fine. They are going to try to get him into a more appropriate placement. Jaylene is suspended from school until Friday. The rest of the kids were agitated all day. I am feeling a bit of a failure, and it is the second day of school.
Jayelen ten years later
Mrs. T used to be my teacher when I was a little girl. She was very great and still is til this day. We made so many art projects. I can remember so many of them. We made candles out of our footprints. We made handprints out of clay and painted them. We made 3D shoeboxes with dinosaurs and plants inside. We made lots of collages and paintings. We also went to the very special arts festival in Los Angeles. Both times, I had paintings that were entered in the art shows. I think I won 2nd place for one of my paintings. We made picture frames. We made flower pots. We made a puppet show for the whole school. We made dances and songs for the whole school. There are many more things we did in her class that I can go on and on about. Mrs. T has a heart for teaching art in schools, and we, as people, need to bring art back into schools all over the world. I know that when we had art class, it helped calm my nerves and was fun. The school has a lot of kids who are very bored because all they do is hard work, and they never have a class where they can go and have fun and learn at the same time. And when you have so many kids that are bored in school, they tend to get in trouble.
Example
May 8 —
May fell. I sent her to the nurses. The nurse reported that she seemed fine. I wrote a note to her mother regarding the fall.
May 9th. The adaptive P.E. coach was absent. Mary seemed to be more listless today. I wrote a note to her mother. The Class learned chair ball today. Eric taught addition to the other students. He liked being in front of the class. Jeremiah stayed in his seat for three minutes straight, a record for him.
I have to tell you that this journal has sometimes saved a child’s life, a child who has been overmedicated. And sometimes, despite my efforts, it did not save a child’s life, but I have documented proof of my efforts.
Any talks with the administration, itinerant teachers, parents, janitors, and lunch workers. I would ask them to be a team member for a child with behavioral issues.
Parents. Sometimes parents are facing many challenges, one of which may be their child. For the elementary and even jr. high, they are the most important team members, even if the parent or parents appear less than perfect. I remember one grandmother who had taken on the responsibility for three children, including a very troubled boy. She would sometimes come to a meeting drunk. Some teachers dismissed her. But I say, look deeper. If necessary, treat the parent or substitute parent as you would one of your students.
I took this idea pretty far when I was asked to substitute in an ESL classroom. I didn’t speak Spanish. They were looking for a teacher who spoke Spanish. Without asking, I invited the parent to bring their child to our class every day. I taught English and basic preschool skills. I started in September. In December, I organized a talent show, and the students sang Christmas songs in English. From the audience, I could hear the parents who had come to class singing. I put this down in my journal. It didn’t call for the school district to spend a cent more, and it was very successful.
- All talks with administrators
- All communications with parents or legal guardians
- All talks with itinerant teachers
- All talk with school personnel
- Any change in a students moods and behavior
- Identify major academic or behavioral goals
- Class goals and evaluation
- Substitute suggestions
