Classroom Management – Helping Teachers Grow

This has nothing to do with classroom management.  At least I think it doesn’t.  You decide.

We’ve been testing all week.  You know, those practice standardized tests our county uses to gauge how much the students have learned and how well the teachers have taught.  It’s a long week, to say the least.  Typically, we test from 8:30 in the morning and don’t get a break until around noon.  Ugh!  What a long time to spend cooped up quietly in the classroom.

On the first day of testing, when we finally got to go to the cafeteria and pick up our bag lunches (double Ugh!), I decided to take my students outside to get some air and enjoy our food.  It was a tad chilly, being the first day of spring in the mountains of western North Carolina.  Most of the outside tables were tucked neatly into the shade, making for a very chilly lunch.

I found a spot a bit away from most of my students but still close enough that I could see everyone.  This sunny spot felt just about perfect as I settled into my lunch (which I’d brought from home- never eat in the cafeteria…).  A couple of peaceful minutes passed and I heard a student yell, “Hey, Mr. B! Are you lonely?”

I replied jokingly, “Extremely lonely.” At which point that student and his group of about five other guys sprang up, came over to where I was sitting, and grabbed a seat around me.

Now, truth be told, these guys were probably just hoping to warm up a bit in my sunny spot, but even still.  That group of guys coming over to eat their lunch with me…  Let’s just say that even if it’d been a lot colder, I’m sure I wouldn’t have noticed it.

Here’s to warmer weather and appreciative students!

Darren

This one’s fresh, my friends!  I was inspired and tried this little trick today, and it really worked!  If you’ve ever struggled to get your students to really, actively listen to each other, then try this little trick.

In class, we’re reading the novel, Ender’s Game.  Great book.  My 7th graders love it.  During one of our written reflections, I had my students share their responses with everyone at their table.  Typical stuff, I know.  But this time, when it came time to share with the class, I had the students share something they’d heard from another student rather than sharing what he or she had written.

This proved to be quite challenging!  More often than not, the students couldn’t remember anything that their other table mates had shared with them.  I told them to share again, only this time, each student needed to be an active listener since each of them would be responsible for sharing what someone else had written.

The conversations and sharing proceeded again, only with more energy, more interest, and greater levels of participation.  Afterwards, I asked the students if they could tell the difference between their earlier passive listening and their newer more active listening.  Sure enough, they could!

I often try to get the students to break out of their “private movie where each of them is the superstar and everyone else is an extra in their move” but it can be difficult.  This little listening exercise really seemed to help- both them and me!

Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

Darren

I have laughed more with my students this year than I have ever laughed before.  It’s not that these kids are any more hilarious than the rest of the students I’ve taught.  It’s that I’ve allowed myself to open up in front of the kids and just laugh.

This sounds a bit strange, I know.  But think back to the last time you really laughed out loud with your students- a laugh that was so real that you had to stop what you were doing and just… laugh!  Sure you might have chuckled here and there, but when it comes down to it, I realized that I had been so concerned with presenting a strong image to the students that I wasn’t taking the time to laugh.

I remember my favorite teacher in high school laughing with us.  Someone would say something silly or maybe something came out sounding much less intelligent than the speaker (me) had hoped.  This teacher, Mr. Lambert, would hold his belly and just laugh!  I still remember that to this day.

And now that I’ve allowed myself the opportunity to laugh with my students, I find more and more chances to laugh.  And they feel more like laughing too!

You’d be amazed how far a laugh goes to help shape the classroom environment.  A class that can laugh together (and definitely not at each other) is much more likely to be enjoyable, to have fewer discipline problems, and a much lower level of stress.

In our stressful jobs, doesn’t that sound good?