https://padlet.com/melissavermont/b1vyfd5fx419 Meet Shawn (alias) en-us 2019-09-17 15:25:23 UTC 2025-09-24 09:08:22 UTC hello@padlet.com melissavermont https://padlet.com/melissavermont/b1vyfd5fx419/wish/387576961 Shawn's profile is unmistakably jagged. At times he likes school, while at other times he hates school. Shawn prefers to be in control of his environment. I suspect he has experienced some kind of childhood trauma. His family has moved several times in the past six years. He is among several of our transient students; once even being homeless. Because he lacks control over many areas of his life (those dictated by family circumstances), I believe he views school as a safe space within which to exert control and, ultimately, to act out.

Shawn is an outgoing student who is often overly gregarious. (Though not all of his social interactions are positive. He can be very critical of his peers.) This can and does interfere with his ability to meet the expectations. He is often talking/socializing during instruction time and throughout the lesson. Class has to be stopped, at times, to respond to Shawn's need for attention (both positive and negative). He does not respond well to redirection; sometimes threatening to leave the room. He can however be deescalated if you present him with a highly engaging task that suits his preferences. 

Shawn is an avid reader (of historical fiction and nonfiction), a very good artist, and enjoys computers (especially video games). If you can engage him on one of these topics, he is a good conversationalist. (Because it's hard to build a relationship when you only see your students for one 45 minute period once a week, I try to engage Shawn in conversation at both breakfast and lunch - when I'm on duty.) We have grown closer, but there is still an invisible wall that I'm finding difficult to penetrate. ]]> 2019-09-21 14:29:15 UTC https://padlet.com/melissavermont/b1vyfd5fx419/wish/387576961 melissavermont https://padlet.com/melissavermont/b1vyfd5fx419/wish/387585207 Shawn appears different in different contexts. For example, he excels in Art class and his energy is focused on being creative and expressive. This is demonstrably different than his behavior in PE. In PE, his instructor has difficulty harnessing Shawn's desire to be first, to be the best, to be the one who knows it all and wants to tell his classmates just what they're doing wrong. The nature of PE is one of cooperation and fair play. Neither are skills that Shawn has mastered, yet. It is difficult for Shawn to be in an environment where there is so much gray area, thus he tries to establish boundaries for himself, and his classmates. As you can surmise, this too could be an effect of childhood trauma. Being the one in control, has become Shawn's coping strategy, for better or worse. ]]> 2019-09-21 15:14:17 UTC https://padlet.com/melissavermont/b1vyfd5fx419/wish/387585207 melissavermont https://padlet.com/melissavermont/b1vyfd5fx419/wish/387592345 Shawn's jagged profile is not the perfect match for our traditional school establishments. He prefers to stand, rather than sit, and walking around the classroom helps him expend pent-up energy that might otherwise lead to behavioral issues (that would then require the teacher to stop her instruction to redirect Shawn). I, and most of my fellow colleagues, understand this need and make accommodations for Shawn (to the indignation of Shawn's classmates who view his preferential treatment as unfair). We hold classroom discussions to clarify that equal is not synonymous with equitable. 

Here is a screenshot I took off of a YouTube video that explains fairness in terms that students tend to comprehend.

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