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Year 1 Class A Handful


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Hey everyone,

weve all been there i am sure, a class who you think will be the end of you!

My old class have gone to year 1 and they are a difficult class. I had them in Rec with just myself and a TA and she hasnow gone part time after last year. Anyway the ct is just about coping but the TA who has been there for years and seen all sorts of things has become so down and is really sad. Does anyone have any ieas about how we could support her? x x x

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Hi,

Didn't want to read and not write anything. So, will have a think and write my thoughts down later. It's very difficult when another teacher/ta finds a class very different to how you found them. There are several children who I felt were making good progress at the end of last year who the Yr1 teacher has been constantly moaning about. I think you have to provide examples of things that you found worked well or caught their interest when they were with you.

Will have a further think and write later

 

Nicky Sussex :oxD

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From your post Jenny I read assumed that they were difficult for you as well latst year which is why your TA has now gone part time. Is that correct or were they fine last year?

 

In what ways are the children 'difficult'. It's hard to offer advice without a few more details since there are so many ways a class can be difficult. Is it their general low ability? Is it low level behaviour problems across the class (can't sit still, can't stop talking, can't work without it sounding as if they are rioting, can't concentrate etc etc)? Is it that there are a few children with behavioural/learning difficulties whilst the rest of the class are fine? Or is it a combination of these, or something else entirely?!

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yes they were a trying class for us in rec which is why she has gone part time. They are extrem;y needy, can not stand another child having a minutes attention away from themselves. They dont like each other, fight, try to get each other into trouble, there is a child in care who is very volatile, there is an adhd child , and then one who we are tyring to get stamented. They have poor porr attention spans. They are just in general very demanding every second of every minute of every day! exhausting and deflating. I know we will not be the only school it just not nice to see them so glum and losing all joy for the job. x x x

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Jennywrenny, I'm not sure you can do anything now except offer what you know about these children to their current teacher. Has the TA gone with them? It is really down to your head and SMT to find ways to support bith the teacher and the TA and indeed the children.

It sounds as if some nurture groups might help and working with the children in small groups away from the main class for focus activities maybe.

Are you single form entry or is there scope for some class rearrangement?

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no we are one form. Oh well that reassues me because i felt a bit hepless just seeing them glum but i suppose you are right there is not much i can do. x x x

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It sounds to me like first thing after the excitment and madness of Christmas is over (ie. first week back in January) the timetable of literacy/numeracy and whatever else needs to be thrown out of the window in favour of an entire week devoted to team building and pshe activities.

 

Boundaries need to be reset perhaps more tightly than you would usually for any other class. Sanctions need to be shared and then enforced rigidly. Children who fight need some immediate time out, not just a telling off (it becomes very tempting to just tell them off a bit and then send them on their way when you're dealing with the constantly), even if time out if just two minutes sitting in a corner or on the carpet or something. Small things such as "5, 4, 3, 2, 1 show me fingers" in order to stop the class (or whatever the teacher uses) need to be driven home as getting these little things right makes all the difference. My class would carry on talking or doing their activity or even wandering around when I did this at first, but then I introduced 2 minutes on the carpet away from activities for anyone who doesn't instantly do it and lo and behold suddenly they are absolutely brilliant at it! The whole class atmosphere is a lot calmer now simply because I'm a lot calmer because I'm not stressing about whether they are actually listening to me. I now know they are and because they are instructions are suddenly being followed much better, plus the children have more of a sense of that their actions are followed by consequences.

 

Being firm and consistent is the main thing for this class it would seem, as well as teaching them how to work together better. It's easy to forget that this is actually a skill which children need to learn and be taught. Perhaps suggesting to the class teacher a full week of learning this skill through fun activities might really help them out. I'm sure there are lots of good activities for this around this site and on the internet.

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