Late last week Anne and I had a conversation about my 9th graders. They were being a little unruly and generally disrespecting me in front of the classroom. I gave them work time on their assignment, but they neglected to use it well. Instead, they decided that they wanted to talk with each other, which obviously is not the point of work time. I asked the class thirteen times to settle down and be quiet, which is obviously way, way too many times to ask students. In addition, I had multiple conversations with individual students about their behavior in the class and how it needed to stop. Yet, at the end of the day they were still chatty and they left class with me questioning how I let chaos rule the classroom. I was embarrassed as a teacher, an educator, and as a student in that class. It was not appropriate for the students to be doing what they were doing, but at the same time I did not employ effective methods to cease or halt it either.
Thursday came and Anne and I split up the students based on how far they were on their papers. Anne took the students that were caught up out into the hall and I stayed with those that needed a little extra work time in the classroom. I have one student who over the past few days caused some issues respecting me, respecting other students, completing work, and staying focused. What happened was I had decided before I came into class that day that I was done with this type of attitude and behavior out of students. I needed a change. I needed some peace and quiet. I had given this specific student a warning after his first issue in class, talking to the student across the aisle. I went on giving instruction, and then it happened again. So I did what I needed to do to maintain the instruction for the rest of the students – I kindly asked this student to step out into the hall. He was not happy about this choice, I was not either, but it needed to be done. So he left and the class worked well for the rest of the period. I had to move a few students that were chatting while I was talking, but that was it. They worked hard and life was good in C-11 (my classroom number).
At least until the end of the period came. The bell rang and I went to confront the student that I kicked out. I told him that we needed to chat and he ignored me. I told him that we needed to go next door (where there was an open classroom) and talk, away from the rest of the class. So I walked towards the door and he followed me, although when I turned left into the other classroom he turned right and walked down the hall. I called out to him multiple times and he ignored me. I told this to Anne who said the next step was doing something I have never done before – a student referral.
So I went through the process, filed the referral, and then went to talk to the administration about the problem. The whole issue was resolved today when he was called into the office and I had a little chat with him and the administrator.
All in all, I wonder if I left him in the hall too long to cool off. I wonder if I made the right choice of choosing the thirteen students in my classroom over him. I wonder if there was something else I could have done to make this situation more effective for all parties involved. I honestly do not know the answer to that question, but I do know that I did what I felt I needed to do. I removed the student from the situation based on behavior that both he and I knew was wrong. He had been warned multiple times about his behavior, and this was the end of the road. He escalated it to the referral stage, not me. He took the step to walk away when I only wanted to chat. Did I do the right thing? With a new week starting on Tuesday and being almost halfway through my placement, only time will tell.
A minor situation also happened in English 10. I have a very motivated, ex-Honors student in my class. He does very high quality work when he is motivated to do it, but there are times when he just wants to goof off or turn around and talk to his friend behind him. So Kristin and I had talked about me pulling him out of class and talking to him individually. He was pulling the same stuff he usually does and I finally today decided that enough was enough – the kicker was that he was even doing it during a quiz. I pulled him out into the hall and told him about how I knew he was a good student and that he could do high quality work, only his behavior the past few days and the past two weeks has been unacceptable. I wanted more out of him. I told him he can do it, he just needs to focus. After our little chat he was better in class, but still at times I need to correct his behavior. I am planning on giving them a new seating chart on Tuesday, so hopefully that will alleviate some of the stress of the situation. We will have to see what happens next week.
At the beginning of my student teaching I thought that I was on top of the world, and everything was great. I understood how to plan, how to teach, and manage a classroom. Now, at the end of six weeks into a fourteen week placement I have realized that I could not have been more ignorant. Lessons could always be more effective, I still want to push the students more than I am doing, and I still have major problems with my teaching – well not major, the major “rocks,” if you will, are in place. Now I just really need to figure out the classroom management situation. I was reflecting with Anne after school and she told me this quote that her college professor told her, “I can teach you everything about teaching, how to lesson plan, how to call home to parents, how to use effective reading strategies, etc., but I cannot teach you classroom management.” Wow, what a quote I thought. I looked at my own
