Once, at the end of fall semester, as I was observing a student teacher in a local public school, the classroom teacher approached me, suggesting that if Bob (not his real name) acted out during the student teacher's lesson, I should let her know and she'd pull him out of class. The teacher explained that Bob had been acting out regularly and she didn't want his disruptive behavior to affect my student teacher. Even she, an experienced teacher of many years, was having difficulty getting him to calm down and focus.
What I knew walking into the room was that the school was in high gear for Christmas, with decorations, plays, concerts and parties. I also knew that Bob was a Jehovah Witness who did not celebrate birthdays. I surmised that his acting out behavior, which had escalated over the weeks in December, was related to the Christmas celebrations taking place.
About one minute into my student's lesson, Bob started poking the boy next to him. The boy tried to move out of Bob's striking distance, only to be poked again. While I usually sit back and observe quietly, this time I decided to intervene.
I tapped Bob on his shoulder and asked to talk to him. I told him that I noticed he was poking another student and that I wondered if he was upset by all the activities related to Christmas. He looked at me blankly. I asked if he celebrated Christmas and he said he did. I explained that I was Jewish and didn't celebrate Christmas. With a bit of bravado he reiterated that he celebrated this holiday and asked why I didn't. I explained that I was Jewish and didn't believe in Christ ,so I didn't celebrate his birthday. He sat quietly for a few seconds and then began a series of questions:
Did I celebrate Valentine's day? No, I didn't.
Did I celebrate St. Patrick's day? No, I didn't.
Did I celebrate Easter? No, I didn't.
Did I celebrate birthdays? Yes, I did.
He compared each of my answers to his own practices. Then he came back to the essential question, asking once again if I celebrated Christmas. And once again, I responded in the negative. He looked at me with big eyes andrsaid, "You've going to be in a lot of trouble!" and quietly and calmly rejoined the lesson.
He left me rather stunned as I thought, "You have no idea!" Sometimes behaviors just need to be investigated - you never know what will be revealed.
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2 comments:
Interesting question - the "December Dilemma" Did your response to Bob make him feel better or did you just put him in an uncomfortable position?
I thought he felt better because his acting out behaviors disappeared after our talk.
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