He Almost Quit, But He Came Back: Practicing Mindfulness
It wasn't the easiest of mornings for little Logan. In case you're just tuning into my blog, Logan is our 14 year old son. He has autism and I'm helping him with online learning until school returns to onsite classes.
Logan has great patience with the other kids in developmental learning. Some are much further to the center of what doctors call the autism spectrum. Our son is quick to pick up new concepts and very good at math. I've thought more than once that coding may be in his future.
Just like any of us, Logan still hits mental walls that stand in the way of progress. These events occur with much less frequency than in the past. He'll go days without one and then it'll happen unexpectedly. Today was one of those times.
A Mix Up In PE Class
Wednesday's are short days on our District's Middle School schedule. This gives teachers most of the day for conferences and kids the chance to work at their own pace.
Logan checks into PE class on Wednesday mornings, which runs from 9:00 - 9:30. He was 6 minutes late because he has two different PE classes on Google Classroom. As he was waiting for the meeting to begin, it had already started in the other course.
He caught his mistake, switched to the other classroom, and apologized for being late. I was a proud dad at that moment. Logan struggled to keep attention but made it through the half hour and on to self paced studies.
Who Did Their Work?...Who Didn't Smackdown!!
For the last 5 minutes of class, two teachers expressed their displeasure about last week's assignments. They can see who's turned in the work and who hasn't on their teacher mode of Google Classroom.
It wasn't a terrible smackdown and I'm not saying the kids didn't need it. There were quite a few who were missing last week's work. As I sat there quietly listening to all this, I wondered how Logan was taking it.
Was he upset because he knew he was one of the kids who hadn't turned in their work? I'm not certain that was the case but Logan had a good reason for not doing his work last week. They had him in a different PE class and then switched him.
For Good Reason...But It Didn't Help Today
Logan's main teacher switched him at the end of last week to a new PE class. That way, she keeps all her developmental needs students with the same PE teacher.
Ok, cool. But now Logan is in his second week of school and already a week behind in PE assignments! Not cool. After the class ended and we started doing his makeup homework is when the near breakdown went down.
Setting A SMART Goal
After watching a video explaining what a SMART Goal is, Logan had to fill out his goal on a worksheet. I corrected him several times as he wrote because he keeps forgetting where to use capital letters.
That was all it took. Logan had had it! He didn't flail out or anything, but yelled and walked away from his Chromebook. Heading upstairs, I expressed some anger myself, then took a softer tone.
"You can't just quit, go upstairs, and watch your videos", I scolded him. "Come back here", I half yelled, half begged him.
Here was another proud dad moment. In the past, Logan wouldn't have listened to me once he reached the point he was at today. But today was different! He did stop at the bottom of the stairs and think for a moment. I went outside to cool off for a minute as well.
When I came back, Logan had returned to his Chromebook and was looking over the assignment. I asked if he'd like some help, and he answered with a big YES!
Knocking Out The Backlog
We sat down and Logan got to it. There were several elements to the worksheet revolving around the concept of a SMART Goal. With a SMART Goal, the letters are an acronym and stand for the following:
S - Specific: Is the goal specific enough to be attainable?
M - Measurable: Can you measure the progress towards the goal?
A - Actionable: Are there direct actions you can take to move closer to your goal?
R - Realistic: Is the goal possible with the resources you have or do you need to set smaller goals first?
T - Timely: Can you set timely date for when you will reach your goal?
SMART!!!
After completing the SMART Goal assignment, Logan knocked out the remaining overdue homework. He was as proud of himself as his dad was for his achievements. I could tell, because he was telling his mom (who was working upstairs) all about it!
It Brought Back His Lesson On Mindfulness From The Day Before
Yesterday, Logan had to watch a video about Mindfulness and answer some questions that followed. I was reminded of the lady's speech in the video more than once today.
Mindfulness, as she described it, isn't having the ability to control your emotions. She went on to say that it's the ability to not be controlled by your emotions.
It was a long speech that took the form of a written essay. She made her intro, presented her points, supported her claims with references, and brought it all together at the end.
Reviewing my own past couple of weeks, I could have used some more Mindfulness myself. At least I never lost it altogether. Logan set an example of sorts for his old man today...and I couldn't be more proud of him.
I think that was the third time I mentioned being proud, so I better leave it at that! Hope you enjoyed the read and if you have kids, that they are succeeding in their schoolwork.
As always...
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