Dodged a Bullet or Two

A couple of weeks ago I showed up for a half day sub job in the morning to find the teacher still in the classroom writing plans. She said she could have done them last night but by the time she had finished dealing with "the incident" she was too tired to stay any longer. She said that I was fortunate because "the incident" had been suspended for a few days and so I wouldn't have him in the classroom.

She proceeded to tell me about one of her students, Jimmy. It seems that things began to escalate at lunch recess when he did some things during a game that weren't fair. By 3rd graders' sense of right and wrong, what he did simply had to be reported to the teacher. Unfortunately over half the class, with each student acting independently, felt it was his or her duty to be the one to do the reporting.

As more than 10 people surround the teacher attempting to outshout each other, Jimmy felt ganged up on. He began to desolve in anger. This is a bad thing because Jimmy apparently has difficulty with uncontrollable rage. He began to break apart a wooden bench that was near by and once he broke a piece of wood off, wielded it as a weapon. The teacher got the rest of her class inside.

No amount of talking would calm Jimmy's rage and eventually the teacher and another aide had to take him down to the ground; this in front of early arriving parents who were there to pick up their children. The police were called, Jimmy's mom came, and the police officer eventually agreed to send the kid to a hospital for observation. After hearing this story I felt fortunate to have dodged a bullet by 1/2 a day.

This brings me to today. Once again I subbed in this classroom. The teacher filled me in on Jimmy's current behavior (it's been good) and what to do if things started to escalate. It's very unfortunate but apparently his home is in turmoil and he is not coping well. This is the result.

At this point I was told to keep an eye on him, not to be confrontational, and, if things began to escalate, let him do what he wants: take a walk, step out of the room, or whatever. In a way he is in complete control. If he gets upset he will soon learn that he can use this to get his own way. The teachers and staff here are smart enough to know that this is not a permanent solution but since I'm only here for a small snapshot out of all the day-to-day goings on, that solution is good enough for a sub.

Thankfully, nothing major came up. There was a small issue at PE but I did my best to just ignore things. It wasn't worth testing his tolerance and having another meltdown.