This Pencil Isn't Sharp Enough...

While in the middle of a meeting today, I got a phone call from one of the technology teachers who stated, "I have Howie down here and he is refusing to do his work.  He just threw the worksheet I gave him onto the ground and then ripped it up... with his feet."  Awesome way to start my morning.  So I had him send Howie down to me.  Once he arrived at my office, I asked him what had happened.  He explained that the work that was given to him was too difficult, so he blew it off of his desk and then ripped it up with his feet.  Never touched it once with his hands.  Impressive.  So I went over the alternatives to his reactions and explained how he should have raised his hand and asked for help blah, blah, blah...

So at the conclusion of my small lecture, I decided that it'd probably be best for Howie if I put him onto a behavior point sheet.  I then let him know that if he earns enough points for good behavior, he'll be rewarded with computer time during our resource period.  He got all excited and exclaimed, "Hey I know!  How about I start doing my work now then?"  Great!  So we got some assignments together and he began working.  The only problem was that he likes to use pencils.  But he can only write with a pencil when the tip is as sharp as humanly possible.  So every few minutes or so, he got up, walked over to the electric pencil sharpener and sharpened his pencil.  After about 20 minutes, he asked me for a new pencil because this is what it looked like... after only 20 minutes:

Needless to say, #4 on his behavior checklist is: "Sharpened pencil no more than two times during the class period."

New Teacher Tip Of The Day: Behavior point sheets are your friend.

**SIDE NOTE**

Open House was tonight and I met Howie's mother... everything about him made sense the second I spotted her and she began to speak... I'll just leave it at that...