Honeymoon is over

I guess the honeymoon is over. I wrote my first discipline referral today in school. Unfortunately, it wasn't for anything "cool," just some overused inappropriate language. I always seem to struggle with discipline referrals. I hear about kids getting kicked out of class by other teachers, but it just doesn't occur to me. Why would I want to send a kid out of my room so I have to spend more time telling them what they missed in class! I would rather just inform them that they will be receiving a discipline referral and then continue with class.

When it comes to classroom management, I often wish that I had a few days to go to other teachers' classrooms. I would love to see what their classroom management skills are. Today's discipline referral wasn't an issue of classroom management, just a 9th grader who felt like he need to swear. However, I sometimes if an issue with a student is due to the student making bad choices, or my lack of classroom management skills. I would like to think it is the former, but how do I know when I don't have other classrooms to compare to?

I hope that the rest of the year continues to run smoothly. I think I reached the maximum amount of time that my small 9th grade class can remain responsible for their own work time, so that is good to know. The more I get to know my students, the better my lessons plans for them will be - hopefully!