I’ve worked with middle schoolers long enough to recognize that their behaviors have rubbed off a bit on me. I tend to be sarcastic with my students, and some times, this just isn’t helpful.
I’m trying to be better about stopping my knee-jerk sarcastic reaction to a student who asks me, “What are we doing?” after I’ve explained carefully twice exactly what we’re doing. It would be so easy to bite into that kid with a sarcastic response like, “If you’d been listening you would know!”
But comments like these tend to damage both the student’s sense of safety in my class as well as bring a bit of negativity into the classroom. Many of us struggle with students who are very negative all the time in our classes. It is important for us, as the only adults in the room, to model positive behavior rather than succumbing to our inner desire to lash out.
Try to recognize when that sarcastic comment is getting ready to erupt from between your lips. Take a quick breath, and then calmly repeat your instructions. Ask that student if he or she understands your instructions. And then let them off the hook.
If you notice a trend that many of your students don’t appear to be listening when you’re speaking, this is an entirely different issue and needs to be addressed. I’ll try to get to this in future posts, as the trick I use works like GOLD!
Good luck!