Today I had to practice “tough love” with my students. Yesterday, learning was tough because their focus was ready for Christmas. No one was focused during Math, no one knew what page we were on in our workbook and no one knew what they had just learned.
There was laughter, talking, and playing. Some students didn’t even do the problem we did together. I was very upset. It hurt my heart. I was very disappointed and I let them know that.
So after school yesterday, I wrote a letter from our elf that was supposed to come today. It said that Santa had seen the misbehavior in our class and decided not to let him come right now. I read the letter to the class and they were saddened by the news.
They were better today, expect for one student that I had to redirect all day. But they did not get to have Christmas fun like the other classes. We did school work all day. The tree was not lit, the Christmas coloring books were put away. After that, they tried really hard to make amends.
Elfred will probably return next week and we can commence our holiday activities. My students now know that learning is more important than anything, even Christmas.
Lola Brooks Books 