Special Moment - The Power of Post-Its

I have a large class for my second 100 minute block of Literacy. The class is high intensity differentiation central due to the range of student needs and learning styles. Accompanied by the ticking-time-bomb of raging hormones and high riding emotions, it's a veritable battlefield. I have wonderful support in the room for my students with emotional disabilities, as well as my English Language Learners, but sometimes it feels overwhelming, keeping up with all the social circles and remembering who can sit within proximity of whom. Then there are the students who are sometimes resentful of certain aspects of the class dynamic due to being buffers for other students.

So when I want to do small groups or partner work, I have to be very careful about who is paired with who. I just redid the seating plan with the new unit starting and the new quarter underway, so today was the first day I was able to test out whether the new seats were going to potentially work. My overall assessment was that things were going well in pairs, but I noticed one of my students with emotional concerns was looking less than thrilled while working with his partner. His partner has trouble concentrating and completing tasks, but is exceptionally smart. I paired them together knowing that both students love to talk and if one can at least write and they can share their ideas, they will do well. But oh no. . . my one student wasn't talking and was keeping his head down while my gifted and talented student was checking out of Planet A334.

Concern for the partnership was growing and I nonchalantly made my way over to their group and started asking my students if everything was alright and if they're working alright. The other student smiled and I saw he had written a good deal of his work already and was doing well. I think he was taking a break while his partner finished writing the Table of Content down on his paper. I wasn't, though, getting any answers from either of them as to whether they were working together or what was going on.

I asked my student who has emotional concerns if I could write him a note and he can respond when he's ready. He shrugged his shoulders and I walked to my desk and wrote him a little note on a Post-It. As I made another turn around the classroom, I stuck the note on his desk. I saw him look at it and respond. As I continued coming around working with students, he handed me the note as I passed. I stopped at my desk, read the note, and responded on a new Post-It note. As I made another turn, I stuck the note on his desk. I was keeping an eye out for his response note, but time was ticking down and I needed to wrap up the lesson and pass out homework.

Thankfully, he was looking a little less frustrated as I passed out their Entrance Tickets. He even offered up an answer for my wrap-up discussion, "Did anyone happen to find an interesting piece of information while hunting through their nonfiction text?" He had been using a book on Einstein and he shared that Einstein used to play the violin as a child as a form of relaxation and started playing when he was thirteen. I thought that was a great piece of information to share, especially since I know a few kids in the class play the violin and all sixth graders are involved in band, orchestra, and/or choir. 

On his way out, he handed me his note back and gave me a big smile. I read the note and he said that he would be alright and he would figure it out. Later in the day he was already back to his old self. This particular event helped me to see the Power of Post-Its. An awesome experience.