Today was a pretty even keel day. There were a few disruptions and classes that got on my last nerve. The honeymoon period is definitely over with these middle school students. The students are doing their best to test my patience and getting on my last nerves. I just have persevere and not let them see me get frustrated. A lot of these students just want to see how far they can push me.
Compared to my first class on Monday, today’s first class more manageable and bearable today. I still had the majority of my students (minus one or two). This could have been a direct result from a better classroom management or just being with this group of students for another week. It is the second week I have been teaching this class and I think we are growing more comfortable with each other and they are getting used to my teaching style.
The students who gave me a really hard time the last time we did our Gaelic football unit were really well behaved today. It was quite nice to see this side of them. However, one of the students was not listening to my instructions and just goofing off. He didn’t really participate last time and today he had increased his participation, but during one of the activities, he tried to punch his partner when his partner was trying to take the ball from him. I told him that is not acceptable and told him to start walking. After he came back into the activity, he was noncompliant and didn’t want to participate anymore. Clearly, this punishment was enough to make him feel angry enough to not participate further in the class. He totally changed because I had told him to start walking.
I found that the students who gave me a hard time last week and were so well behaved this week could be a result of me talking to them as people instead of as an authoritarian figure. You have to find something relatable to these students and then you will gain more respect from them. This creates a common ground between you and the student and gives you something to open the lines of communication. For example, there is one student who wouldn’t just talk to me. However, during warm ups, I praised him for his good form and technique during one exercise. Throughout the rest of the class, he was always seeking this praise and feedback. “Miss, am I doing this right?”He also told me about how his abdominals were hurting because of boxing practice. We talked a little bit about his boxing as he was warming up and this became our common ground. He was so good during the rest of the class.
I had given this class their homework on Monday and today they had to turn it in. I only 6 students out of 21 turn their homework in. I kind of expected this. I wasn’t expecting many of them to turn it in, especially after the resistance I saw from them on Monday. I even talked to my cooperating teacher about this. I know that it would be a different story had it been my class for an entire year because part of their grade would come from homework and not solely based on participation.
Today, my second class got on my last nerve. Classes shouldn’t be allowed to have more than 25 students. Heck, more than 20 can get a little hectic. This class has about 30 students and there are a handful of boys who make it that much more unbearable. It is a 6th grade class and half of these students are immature. At the end of the class, I ended up writing up 4 students for lunch detentions and 1 student for a category B write up (disorderly conduct). This one student, I had told him to go sit down because he couldn’t follow directions and I had already given him two warnings. When I brought the students in to give instructions for the next activity, he was yelling at me and just disrupting the class. Of course, all his classmates paid attention to him instead of me. Eventually, I just ignored him and told the students to not pay attention to him either; he was just trying to get attention.
Unfortunately what this one student does, all his friends have to follow. Four of his closest buddies had to start goofing off and misbehave in the class as well. Soon I just had enough of them as well and just made them sit down because if I had all of them walking, it would be a disaster. At the end of the class, I had them all sit against the wall together and talk to them. I told them that “I don’t like to make you sit out or punish you with detentions, so what can I do to make you want to listen and participate in the activities? What can I do to make this better for you?” Of course none of them responded to these questions. I had even asked the whole class before they left what I should do for punishments if they don’t want to listen or participate. Some students said to make them sit out or make them go run.
The thing that bothers me the most about this punishment is that it seems like it does not even faze the students. I think that they are used to this type of punishment so it doesn’t really even matter. I wish I could find a different way to correct the behavior of these students; a way that would mean something to them. The other saddest part is the fact that their behavior affects all the other students in the class as well. I apologized to them and said it was a shame that their behavior was influencing the learning of the other students. My classroom management for the other classes apparently doesn’t work with this group. I am going to have to shuffle a few things around and she if that works better. I guess it will be a trial and error process.
My third class was introduced to their soccer unit today. These students, all they want to do is jump right into the game playing of the activity. They don’t understand that they need practice in order to be better. They would rather have fun than learn how to have fun and be better at what they do. These students are so used to traditional sports and traditional game play that it will be really hard to break them of this habit. I had one student in this class even ask “Miss, why can’t we play the sport right.” “Because the right way is not the only way. That’s how you learned it, but there a plenty of ways to play. Plus, the right way to you might leave some students feeling left out because you never pass them the ball. What’s right to you might not be right to them.”
I also took them outside to do the soccer unit. It is so hard to be outside because there are so many distractions for the students. It’s harder to keep the kids under control as well because since they are given wide open spaces, they think they can act crazy. It’s harder to keep the class under control when you have ample space to play. I even set up cones and boundaries, but the students wanted to keep going outside of them. There is always something about feeling closed in. When the students aren’t given boundaries, they manage to stay close. However, whenever you tell them that they can’t go outside the cones, all they want to do is break free.
I learned that if you say something, you better follow up on it or you will lose that credibility and respect from the students. If you say that “that was your last warning,” you cannot give them just one more warning. Students will walk all over you if they think you are a pushover. Students will find your weaknesses and prey upon those. I compare it to how Satan works in our lives. All he needs is a little crack in order to sneak in and try to control your life. After he sneaks in, he tries to control your life and preys upon your weaknesses. These students, all they need is that one little flaw, weakness, or crack before they begin to try to use that against you. I am not saying this students are “little Satan’s,” I am just saying that you can’t let the students use your weaknesses against you. You can’t let them bother you to a point where you want to quit, give up, and not want to continue in this profession. Everywhere we go, there are always going to be those students who try to get on your last nerve and break you down to a point where it feels like there is no hope. There is always hope; always hope for those students. You just have to love on them and show them compassion.
I go into the next class and the next day with optimism; always! You can’t let one class or one day ruin the way you think about students, education, and teaching. You can’t let it get you down and make you want to quit. You have to always remember that you as a student were always testing the teachers you had, in one way or another. You have to get up and try again. Things in life aren’t easy. It takes a lot of hard work to get things to be where you want them. You can’t quit the things you know are right.
Until tomorrow!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment