At 2 p.m. today, the point at which I had made it to my 4th block planning and was ‘homefree’ and had officially survived my first day with students, I thought to myself, “Today was not bad. It floated by pretty smoothly.” That said, I must be honest and say that certain aspects of it really trouble me. I keep re-living the bad moments and my mistakes. I wish I were more prepared (although my classroom was definitely ready and I came to school with good peace-of-mind). I DEFINITELY should have given a lesson today, instead of just going over rules and procedures. Nothing makes me feel more insecure than not being perfectly prepared for a class period. Reading through rules and procedures was not only terribly dull, but required quite a bit of bluffing on my part. Well, bluffing isn't the right word. What I mean is, I am no expert on discipline, and it’s quite the act pretending to be one.
My first period was a piece of cake, because there was so much paperwork that it filled all the time. Second period was slightly dicier, but I had them under control. I "converted" them from being disorderly and frayed on the edges, to being rule-followers and ticket-wanters. But my third period...LUNCH period. Man. I foresee a major struggle of power with them. And I hate to admit my weakness. I hate that my naivety and first-year-ness shines like a bright-white all-alert flag when, for example, my mentor teacher at the school came in my room, saw the 11 names I'd written on the chalkboard for warnings, and laughed at me. I hated feeling so clueless and, in retrospect, powerless and regretful for not being more stern with them. On the positive side, I was consistent (maybe an 8 on a scale of 10) with my punishments, and I gave some good glares. I am pretty sure they caught on to my angry vibe, which actually probably backfired because they saw that their ploys had an affect on me.
Another thing with third period: I was surprised that students would challenge my rules! I held to them, but I wish I would just ignore their questions that are simply ridiculous, such as, "are you going to give us a lot of homework?" "Well, yes, yes I am." (This made me want to give even MORE homework. I want to become known as the Homework Boss around my school!) "You're really going to make us dismiss like that [row by row]? No teacher here does that." "Yes, yes I am -- it should be a simple procedure." And then, oh! The audacity! "Will we be punished if we don't?" I gotta tell you, I was not expecting this kinda stuff. “If we list that we have a job, will we get less homework?” “Will you take our tickets away from us as a consequence?” And then, one girl said, “It’s JPS policy that you have 5 SCHOOL days, not including the weekend, to turn in missing work.” She got a few accomplices to agree with her. I was so frustrated! I simply clarified, this is for excused absences.” These kids are legalists! Maybe that’s simply one’s natural human reaction to legalism (which first-year teachers like me abide and die by), to be a legalist oneself. I was expecting general rambunctiousness, as the "Reluctant Disciplinarian" discussed, but not this fierce and widespread sort of contestation...
But now is the time for short-term (quickly-instated) goal-setting for effective classroom management. I think August will be a month when I grow tough skin. I want to be a strict disciplinarian; I want complete control of my classroom, for the purpose of educating them. This will take a lot of consistent effort, thought, reflection and adjustment on my part. It’s not too late to gain control. The teacher next door to me, a 14-year vet, was very helpful and encouraging. She helped me re-arrange the desks into something more conducive to proximity-management, My MTC mentor has also been a great re-inforcement, encouraging me that on the next day, I can simply begin class with “OK, today is going to be a lot different than last time. I will be much stricter.” And I will have referrals on hand and ready to go. And the bet tip of the day is this: keep the students busy, and they won’t goof off and drive me crazy. It’s what they need and what they come to school for, anyway: to work themselves, so that their knowledge becomes truly their own, something they acquire and earn.
My first period was a piece of cake, because there was so much paperwork that it filled all the time. Second period was slightly dicier, but I had them under control. I "converted" them from being disorderly and frayed on the edges, to being rule-followers and ticket-wanters. But my third period...LUNCH period. Man. I foresee a major struggle of power with them. And I hate to admit my weakness. I hate that my naivety and first-year-ness shines like a bright-white all-alert flag when, for example, my mentor teacher at the school came in my room, saw the 11 names I'd written on the chalkboard for warnings, and laughed at me. I hated feeling so clueless and, in retrospect, powerless and regretful for not being more stern with them. On the positive side, I was consistent (maybe an 8 on a scale of 10) with my punishments, and I gave some good glares. I am pretty sure they caught on to my angry vibe, which actually probably backfired because they saw that their ploys had an affect on me.
Another thing with third period: I was surprised that students would challenge my rules! I held to them, but I wish I would just ignore their questions that are simply ridiculous, such as, "are you going to give us a lot of homework?" "Well, yes, yes I am." (This made me want to give even MORE homework. I want to become known as the Homework Boss around my school!) "You're really going to make us dismiss like that [row by row]? No teacher here does that." "Yes, yes I am -- it should be a simple procedure." And then, oh! The audacity! "Will we be punished if we don't?" I gotta tell you, I was not expecting this kinda stuff. “If we list that we have a job, will we get less homework?” “Will you take our tickets away from us as a consequence?” And then, one girl said, “It’s JPS policy that you have 5 SCHOOL days, not including the weekend, to turn in missing work.” She got a few accomplices to agree with her. I was so frustrated! I simply clarified, this is for excused absences.” These kids are legalists! Maybe that’s simply one’s natural human reaction to legalism (which first-year teachers like me abide and die by), to be a legalist oneself. I was expecting general rambunctiousness, as the "Reluctant Disciplinarian" discussed, but not this fierce and widespread sort of contestation...
But now is the time for short-term (quickly-instated) goal-setting for effective classroom management. I think August will be a month when I grow tough skin. I want to be a strict disciplinarian; I want complete control of my classroom, for the purpose of educating them. This will take a lot of consistent effort, thought, reflection and adjustment on my part. It’s not too late to gain control. The teacher next door to me, a 14-year vet, was very helpful and encouraging. She helped me re-arrange the desks into something more conducive to proximity-management, My MTC mentor has also been a great re-inforcement, encouraging me that on the next day, I can simply begin class with “OK, today is going to be a lot different than last time. I will be much stricter.” And I will have referrals on hand and ready to go. And the bet tip of the day is this: keep the students busy, and they won’t goof off and drive me crazy. It’s what they need and what they come to school for, anyway: to work themselves, so that their knowledge becomes truly their own, something they acquire and earn.
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