Things that occur to me in the middle of the night
It's funny how things come to you in the wee small hours. Funny in that I don't recall it happening that much in my previous existence. The question that floated into my mind just as I was going to sleep last night (and thus prevented sleep for some while after that) was: am I trying to avoid confrontation with pupils? And the answer is probably yes. So why? It's not like I haven't got experience of dealing with difficult issues with adults. I've been through the warning/discipline/sacking route in the past when it's been called for, so why am I not being sufficiently assertive with teenagers who haven't done their homework or are continuously misbehaving in class? I think there are two reasons, both of which I can work on:
with adults, none of these issues ever comes as a surprise – if the issue is performance-based then there would have been plenty of informal coaching/reminding/chivvying/questioning long before it ever became a formal issue. So usually the problem either improves or goes away (I.e. the person leaves) before it becomes a formal issue. And when it does become a formal issue, I would make sure I was properly prepared and had all the angles covered (even the pipeline welder with the iron bar was something we'd considered before I handed him his papers!). With pupils, incidents can be much more spontaneous (misbehaviour) and require an instant response. And a calm and measured response. I guess that's why they bang on about having a discipline plan at the ready...
with adults, I would know the person much better and have a pretty good idea of the emotional response I was likely to see – I would have worked with them and related to them as adults for some period before we reached this stage. With pupils I am not so sure about the likely response because (a) I don't l know them so well and (b) well, they are children and their emotional responses are more likely to be unpredictable.
What I have to bear in mind at all times is that I am an adult, I am in control and, by and large, the pupils know that – they will know that they haven't done their homework or that they are behaving badly -and that they can expect to get a row for it. It shouldn't be coming as a surprise to them....
So I decided I should put theory into practice with 3B. This had the potential to be a tricky lesson as the class teacher was absent and the cover wasn't familiar with the class. I was assertive, quietened down the whole class when necessary (they still make a reasonable amount of noise at the best of times but that's partly due to pure numbers) and dealt with the individuals. The only one who required a second warning was duly despatched to the corridor to wait while I gave him a row. Next lesson, he'll have to start with a clean sheet but I'm expecting better behaviour than today.
I also made a point of practising the art of silence. That worked well. Muwahahahahahaha!
Storm cloud approaching rapidly
1 day ago
1 comment:
It's like herding cats, isn't it. :-)
As far as your two points are concerned. (a) will become more like when you worked with adults when your are teaching your own classes and are based in the same school for a year or more. Classroom management becomes much easier when you have developed a relationship with the pupils and have an established reputation in a school.
As for (b) - again as the relationships develop, you get better at predicting likely responses but there is always some unpredictability - that's what makes it fun! I remember teaching a lesson co-operatively with a colleague once where a boy kept bouncing a pen on his desk. He was warned appropriately and when he continued to do it, my colleague took the pen off him and threw it in the bin. The boy (2nd year) promptly burst into tears. That took us both a bit by surprise. :-)
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