Thread: Student Transfer from Another Classroom of Same School

How can you make the transition a positive one?

Hmmmmm ...

1) If you have a bulletin board display with student names on it, make sure you add this student's name to the display.

2) If your desks have name tags on them, make sure this student also has a name tag on his desk.

3) What are you doing regarding textbooks? Are the textbooks coming with him or will you be issuing new textbooks. If you're issuing new textbooks, they should already be issued and on his desk.

4) Take time to introduce yourself and have each student in the class introduce himself or herself. The students should also say one interesting thing about themselves.

5) If the new student feels comfortable, have him introduce himself and say one interesting thing about his life or his interests.

6) Assign a "buddy" to orient him to the classroom.

7) If you have any folders or journals issued to the students that the other teacher doesn't have - make sure you have these folders and journals ready to give to the new student.

8) Be warm and welcoming. Find opportunities to give this child verbal praise for appropriate behavior.

9) Contact the parents at the end of the day to introduce yourself. Talk about the experiences of the child's first day in your room. Hopefully the experiences will be positive - and in talking to the parents you will also establish rapport and lines of communication. (If the parents complain about the other teacher, deflect the coversation by changing subjects. DO NOT become defensive or allow yourself to get sucked into an unfortunate discussion).

Best wishes,

David

I also just had a student transfer from another class in the school to my classroom. I was a bit uncomfortable with it at first since the other teacher and I are friends, thankfully she didn't take it personally. The student I recieved is not pretending she is a dinosaur (thank goodness - I have enough kids like that already!) She is a great kid. I actually taught her last year in kindergarten. I think that was part of the reason for the switch. She is very shy and was having some trouble in the other class socially. She has been with us for three weeks now and seems to be adjusting well. At least she is happy to be at school again.

David made some good suggestions about helping the child settle in. This has been a big issue in my class since I have had 4 new students since January. It is really quite disruptive. You just feel you have gotten things settled and back into routine and you have to start all over again.

I think the thing that has worked best for me to help new students adjust is to assign the child a buddy for the first few days to help the new student learn routines, expectations, etc. If I know in advance about the student coming I try and prepare the rest of the class so they are excited to meet our new classmate. I try and give the student a few days to settle in and expect them to be a little shy at first. We are a pretty friendly bunch in my class so the new kids have all seemed to settle in fairly well.

Good luck with your new student

Catherine

Thank you for your advice. I thought I'd share my day. I felt like a clown in a circus today--trying to juggle all the incidences.

My boy arrived with his parents this morning. He had been in a lock down facility for two weeks prior to this, so the doctors could determine the best medicine for him.

His parents reported that he (I'll call him K) was very upset about the move when they told him. K claims he even punched his mom when she told him. Later he calmed down.

After the parents informed us of his reaction, our principal began to waver. So, after telling both classrooms about the switch and making a HUGE deal about the necessity of the switch, our principal was about to make the determination that K could stay in the first teacher's classroom
"to see how it goes". I made the assertion that it was not fair to anyone involved if we didn't make some determination about who his classroom teacher would be for the rest of the year. We couldn't just go back and forth on this one.

The group decision was to put him in my room, but he stayed in the SAFE room until after lunch. K entered our room following lunch, we got in a circle to play a get-to-know-you game, and K began to sob. I told him he could go up to the SAFE room, and I'd come up to talk to him. I found someone to cover my room and went up.

It took me about 15 minutes to find a workable solution to help him adjust. I went to the previous teacher's room and borrowed a student of her classroom, and I found a student from my classroom. I told them the situation, and they went upstairs to play a game with K. They also talked to him about the positives of the switch.

In the meantime, my kids made him cards. When I took them up to K, he was able to come into my classroom. He made it the rest of the day!!!!

I was so relieved because on top of that I had another parent come up asserting her child had bruises that were inflicted by one of my students. And...a student who threatened (said "Kill") another student. I guess it's all in a days work--the life of a teacher.

Great gadzooks RebaRed,

It sounds as though you had a rough day.

But - you weathered it though. The kid in question appears to be making a good transition. (That was a bright idea by the way of borrowing a student from the classroom. I'm not sure I would have thought of it).

And my goodness - it sounds as though your building administrator didn't really think the transfer through. I'm glad you guys followed group consensus and stuck to the plan.

I reckon St. Peter gave you bonus points for all the stuff you had to go through today.

Hang in there and keep us posted.

Errrr - what happened with the parent who was complaining about bruises on her child? Was the matter settled?

David

The principal was actually contacted by this parent. She (principal) told me because she felt it was my issue to deal with (despite the fact that I was not on recess duty when it supposedly happened). I took the "bruiser" aside and told him that a parent had contacted the school because it was reported that he--the bruiser--had hurt another student. Knowing that both boys involved have been not exactly "angelic", I told bruiser that he was not to touch anyone. We talked about his responsibility to keep his hands, legs, and every other body part away from other students.

Then, the mom came with "bruised" to see me. I spoke with them and told bruised that he, too, had responsibility for this. I let him know that I'm aware that bruised often says things in a mean and hateful way. Bruiser, who is not so prolific, uses force as his retaliation. We--mom, student, and I--agreed that this was indeed the case. I assured mom that I spoke with bruiser. We also decided bruised should spend his recess very close to the person on duty. That way bruised can get to help easily if needed.

Bruised is very obsessive compulsive and often doesn't see things any other way but his. Thankfully, after months of prompting, his mom has gotten an appointment with a psychiatrist. He will hopefully benefit from this intervention.

Wow Rebared - you really did have a full day.

Did you talk to both boys together?

And out of curiosity, was this matter ever brought to the attention of the teacher on recess duty? If one child was "bruised" it seems to me that he should have immediately complained to a teacher. From the story you shared I'm guessing that the teacher probably never heard about the incident - which makes me wonder why this came up now.

Regarding your administrator - I'm disappointed this was foisted off on you since you were not on duty. The principal should have had both students in the office for a discussion. There is no reason this should have been put in your lap just because you're the classroom teacher.

An administrator is supposed to be responsible for everything that happens at a school. Since the matter was brought to the administrator's attention, I think the administrator should have handled the problem.

(grumble)

David

Actually there wasn't much time to talk to the boys together. I was dealing with K for most of the day.

Bruiser was the one who also gave a verbal threat ("Kill") to another student, so I did send him off to the principal's office--that was before bruised came to school with his mom. Once again, I wasn't on recess duty when this verbal threat was declared, but I managed to get my administrator to take this one on. I just said, "I don't want him back in my room until the principal or counselor has talked to him." Amazingly, my administrator was at a luncheon, and bruiser spent time in our SAFE room waiting for her return. He didn't return to the classroom. I haven't received all the details yet of any actions taken, but I'm sure I will. I head to the battlefront bright and early tomorrow.

I have told bruised repeatedly that he has to tell someone when he is in danger. Of course, it's always more fun to tell mom; it causes a bigger reaction.

Reba, I know your classroom, I know your kids, you had your hands full before "little dino" was added! I think you did the right thing by making the parents and principal stick to the choice they had made.

That was not a choice for the child to make.

Well, I'm batting .500. Two of my days were pretty good. K was a little off beat, but I adapted well to his little nuances. Thankfully, my kids are too. We had a long talk after one of our unsuccessful days because the kids (and some of the parents) were a little concerned.

As I'm discovering, K is used to getting what he wants at home. He complains enough, and his parents just give in. It's easier to fix the squeaky wheel, I guess.

Monday was our first day to tango. I'm not really into giving any kid what they want if it is unreasonable, hurtful, or unsafe. K was frustrated after recess, so he went off on me. I was kicked, scratched, head butted...His response was, "Good I get to go to the SAFE room. See I always get what I want." Well, I couldn't have that. So, I went to chat with him, calmed him down and he was able to resume his learning. Come to find out, his problem was that he wasn't able to play with anyone at recess. His old friends didn't want to play with him, and his new friends didn't know how to play with him. Yes, for those who are wondering, we did process the appropriateness of his behavior.

Well, second recess and the same thing happened. Long story short--mom had to come up to school to pick him up. He couldn't make it home on the bus.

Tuesday went well, and Wednesday was not as bad as Monday but similar. Today, however, I really feel we made progress. He was off a bit, but he did not react in a violent manner (he is never violent toward any child--thank goodness). He is developing a relationship with me, knows my limits, and is beginning to stop short of them. That makes me happy.

I'm trained in dealing with kids like K, so I know I'm safe. I also know that the kids are safe because K is constantly monitored. It has, however, spurred the question in our building about how much should we as teachers have to tolerate from disruptive kids? When do we say enough is enough? Thankfully, I like this kid. I just hope he makes better choices than his past record shows.