Leaders One Child at a Time

We have a student in kindergarten that needs extra attention to learn our rules and procedures and his name is Terrance. The other students in his class are constantly focusing on what he does wrong, and reports these behaviors to me as they enter the art room and throughout the class. "Please do not tell me what a student is doing wrong unless it directly involves you" I told them, "focus on your own behavior and make good choices". I looked at the student that they were focusing on, told him to be a good leader, take his seat and remember to keep your hands to yourself. The class went on as usual as I demonstrated how to use oil pastels. Terrance literally squealed in delight as he used oil pastels for the first time. The other kids laughed and told me to tell Terrance to stop screaming. "He's not screaming," I said, "he's squealing with delight because he's enjoying what he is doing." I told him he was doing a great job working with the pastels, but he had to remember to work quietly. It was almost time to clean-up and a girl cried "Terrance hurt Maria very badly". I immediately went to the table just steps away, and asked what happened. Maria didn't say, but two other girls said he pressed his hand on her cheek. "Maria are you hurt?" I asked, and she said no. Her face was not red and she was not upset, so I took Terrance by the hand as I reminded him to keep his hands to himself, and asked him if he'd help me by the sink. It was now the end of class and the students had to wash their hands. I asked Terrance if he would hand a paper towel to each student to dry their hands, and he agreed. Kindergarten students need to use the stool by the sink or they can't reach, so as they get down they place one hand on the sink while stepping down to get a paper towel from the tray. Terrance handed each of them a paper towel as they got down. Each student said thank you, as he gently handed them their towels. You could see the pride in his face as he carefully did his job. He even held his hand out to help students off the stool as they reached for their paper towel. One boy said "thank you for helping me Terrance". Then as if someone flicked on a light switch, you could feel the children's attitude change toward Terrance. They started thanking Terrance for his help and treated him with respect. The children lined up without further incidence, and I let Miss Schmidt know what a good leader Terrance was in art class.
We teach much more than our curriculum as teachers, and our younger students especially look to us to model decent behavior. I tried something different with a child today that needs our patience, attention and guidance and it worked. I hope I can succeed on some level with this boy every week, no matter how small the gain, I know I'll be moving in the right direction.