Saturday, March 23, 2013

Cliffette realization...

I knew I picked the right student to be my cliffette for this assignment. This student always does the right thing and is academically at grade level. I knew I wasn't giving her the attention she needed. What I didn't know was how hard it would be to find the time to give her that attention. These past few weeks I have been thinking "make sure to touch base with cliffette", and then I found myself either reacting to another student, or getting something else ready. I had to force myself to give up a little control and trust that the other students were doing the right thing while I focused on cliffette. I really thought about how much of my energy is taken from a few kids or other situations that are over all pretty insignificant (like cohort and marzano training during my prep time). I am always coming home exhausted that that is affecting my relationship with my husband too. I need to focus on what's important and start letting somethings go. If something doesn't get done, its not going to be a big deal. If a student is being disruptive to get my attention, I need to send them out so I can focus on the students who deserve my attention. I want to focus on the positive and shift my energy to things that will lift me up.

1 comment:

  1. Isn't it amazing how exhausted you can become by giving energy and attention to those negative behaviors? I too am trying to focus on the positive behaviors and really praise those who are doing the right thing. Far too often, our Cliffs and Cliffettes go unnoticed. I've really been paying attention to my Cliff a lot more-positively-and I've seen him shine and come out of his shell. I feel better about myself at the end of the day too. I'm also noticing that by ignoring some of the negative behaviors from others, they aren't acting out as much. They aren't getting my attention so they are stopping. By praising the positive more, I'm really noticing a difference all around in the classroom atmosphere. You're doing the right thing by staying positive and paying attention where attention is due!

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