Classroom Management in a Post-Civil Society Part 2

Several weeks ago I posted a blog about classroom management in a Post-Civil Society (my term). I felt like I needed to cover a few other things that are the tenets of my classroom management philosophy here, and reflect on what it feels like and looks like to put some of these ideas into practice.  I talked a lot in the previous post about building community. Some of the ways that we build community in my room are allowing the students to help me set the classroom rules (we call them norms), seating students at tables in groups of 5, small writing groups (the aforementioned groups of 5) to share writing, small group conferences with me about reading and writing, and lots of formal and informal student surveys allowing them a voice in what happens in the classroom. This creating a community of learners works better in some classes than in others. This year has been wonderful, but definitely had it's pitfalls as well. I am currently dealing with two different problems on separate ends of the spectrum.


One class is severely apathetic. They are passionless. They don't talk to each other. They don't try very hard on assignments, and about half of them check out completely during class time. 4 or 5 of the 20 are very smart, but they are not natural leaders or talkers. To an outside observer a walkthrough during this hour would look I run a tight ship as a classroom manager. The observer would see students with their heads down busily typing or reading, but they would hear not much at all. If I ask questions, I am met with blank stares, if I ask them to discuss in their groups, I hear nothing. They don't even talk about off topic things. I may be exaggerating a bit here, but not completely.  I keep telling myself that they are just a weird group and that chemistry of the class is bad (that's not my fault--the counselors or the computer put this group together). But, I feel like I am failing them. I can't stir them up. I can't get them to interact with each other during group assignments. I don't know what to do with them. They refuse to gel. Not only do they refuse to gel, but I don't see much improvement in the formative assessments I'm doing. I reteach to them, but then I get comments about how we already did this.

Then I have one class that erupted into a perfect example of the post-civil society. Again, it is educational apathy at the root of the problem, but the personal lives of  three students in this particular class fomented into an explosion of passionate emotion moving them beyond all manners or code of normal conduct. What do I do with students who completely forget their manners? I understand having life whirling out of control all around you, but the maturity is being able to act normally. Individual conferences about behavior and "killing them with kindness" are the two major tenets of my plan to deal with disruptions that cause fights.

Have you ever heard the saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Well, someone also said that you can even jam his head underwater and he still won't drink. I feel like I am leading to water and stuffing heads under, but the engagement in my classroom isn't picking up (maybe that's a bit dramatic--I am having breakthroughs with some students, but you know, sometimes teachers operate on feelings too). I'm reading all the reform literature. I am trying new ways of doing things. I'm working hard to make everything I do in my classroom relevant and preparatory for the real world of new jobs that don't even exist yet. But....I have to fight against the "old" way of doing things in other classrooms in my school. Don't get me wrong my school is as cutting edge as it can be right now. Our superintendent and other administrators are extremely forward thinking and we are trying, but it's hard to change course now. And there are lots of "old" ways still happening....

The world of education is much like a steam engine. It's slow to get started, but once it builds a head of steam it's almost impossible to stop and changing course--just forget it! This reform thing is painful. Even for a teacher who is relatively new to the profession and who is as "Pollyanna" about change as one can be. I have to battle the power of the old in my struggle to bring in the new.

Several teachers in our English department, and in other departments too, are struggling against the odds to reform the way our classes work, but it's hard. Classroom management that uses dignity, forgiveness, and mutual respect is hard to implement, especially when many teachers still send students to the office in droves. It's hard to make that kind of classroom management look like a classroom with straight rows and tiny desks that imprison and separate students (the common idea of good classroom management). It's hard to make disengaged robot kids kick the habit of going through the motions of school for one period a day. In order to make reform work the whole school must participate.

Coming soon....how to get all stakeholders on board with change. . . . offer them a cookie?

Resources I am currently reading

6 Things to say to Difficult Students
Stop sending kids to the Office
8 Things teachers do to make students bored
Dealing with Difficult Students
12 Classroom Management Myths
The Holy Trinity of Classroom Management

Classroom Management in a Post-Civil Society

Piles of books have been written on classroom management. Student teachers across the US have been gifted with Harry Wong's First Days of School and if they've begun teaching in the last 5 years, they've quickly realized that there is much more to classroom management than the good Dr. Wong ever talked about. He makes wonderful points, and I use many of his strategies. However, the face of society is changing and that means classroom management is changing.

The days of "sit down and shut up" while the all-knowledgeable teacher talks are quickly disappearing and many teachers are losing their handle on their classrooms much more often than they ever did in the past. Just ask them. Any teacher in my building will quickly tell you that students today are much harder to control than they were just 5 years ago. Tried and true methods like proximity don't work anymore. Threatening a student with a trip to the office to meet with the principal doesn't matter. ISS and OSS just mean more free-time for at-risk students to run enterprising small business, rabble rouse, wreak havoc in their family homes and otherwise educate themselves in the ways of the world. THere really isn't anything scary about authority to these students. They don't even consider the adult vision of authority to be authority, so why would they care if a well meaning teacher moves them to a desk next to their own or sends them to the office. Why are students so hard to handle these days?

The American culture  of civility is disintegrating. This is evidenced by the loss of manners in public, the idea that life is a joke and must be lived for the thrill, and an education that is not considered valuable. More importantly the structure of the family is falling apart, and therefore kids have no concept of authority. School should teach them the value of authority, but really school just creates a united front for the family unit to rebel against, especially for students in poverty.

Proximity as a tool for management no longer works. Test it and see. The adage is "move into the proximity of a student misbehaving and the majority will stop what they're doing." But, try it. Move into their sphere and many won't notice your presence (adults are not authority figures unless respect has been earned), many  misbehaving students will attempt to engage the teacher in what they are doing that is distracting the class, and a few will become belligerent, further distracting the class.

Students to whom ISS is given as punishment see it as a mere 7 hour study hall. There is no threat in that. OSS is even less scary. Granted for a good kid who has never been in trouble, OSS may seem like a big deal and will probably bring that student into line very quickly, but for a repeat offender, at-risk student there is no real punishment in being sent home for several days.

So, how can a teacher continue to teach without having a veritable zoo in his or her classroom? There are two major ways a teacher can create an atmosphere where his or her authority is accepted. Those two ways are fairly simple create relationship and build community.

Creating relationship--
How does a teacher create relationship? In my classroom, I greet students at the door. I learn their names as quickly as possible. My syllabus clearly states that I will treat them with respect. I teach mostly upperclassmen, so I state that I expect adult-like behavior for adult-like treatment. I am careful to let them know that I care about them. I give them feedback on their work in the form of handwritten notes and reactions to their writing. I take the time to listen to them when they need to talk. I tell jokes. I  introduce them to my life and who I am. I attend sporting events with all three children and husband in tow. I go to the school play. I do whatever I can to let the students know that I care about their real life and that I have a real life as well.

Building Community--
Building community begins with a teacher who creates relationship and moves beyond that into the actual pedagogy of the classroom. The content of an English classroom does not lend itself as well as some to a lot of collaboration, but I practice it at every possible moment. Students freewrite at the beginning of class three times a week. After they freewrite they share a line or two from their freewrites and listen to each other share. That 5 to 10 minutes at the beginning of class alone creates a community of thinkers and creators. Another community builder is getting rid of individual desks. I know not every school is able to do that, but having tables where students sit together in groups daily creates an atmosphere of collaboration and community immediately.

I'm sure I've missed things in this short post. I'm still thinking about this concept. It's worth researching and digging into at length. It could even make a wonderful doctoral thesis not that I ever thought I wanted to get a doctorate.

After School Routine Checklist

Something I'm sporatic at at best is being routine about what I do when I leave my room. I found this great list and hope that I can pull it together a little better this year.

Middle School Math Rules!: After School Routine Checklist: I think it is really important to keep yourself and your classroom organized.  I was not a born organized person, but had to work hard to d...

Anticipating

The first day of school is 2 and a half weeks away and I'm anticipating a great year, but I'm still a bundle of nerves. I feel almost like a first year teacher. It's only my third year, so I'm definitely not a veteran, but I do feel like I'm getting a handle on my curriculum. I have taught the same two classes, so I'm not yet worn out, but just starting to feel like I know where to go next with my lessons. My nerves this year are based mostly on management. I've worked out procedures for everything this year and tightened my resolve to run a tight, but not too tight ship. Yet, I'm nervous. I hate confrontation. I run away! Far away! Whenever I feel it coming. So, I'm going to have to get over it, but then again maybe I won't. Maybe I'll have a perfect year and my procedures will do their job and I won't have to deal with the kid who told me constantly that his goal in life was to be a druglord. He regaled me with the tales of his several arrests and all the times he should have been arrested and wasn't. I'm not a big girl and he was a big guy, so one time when I tried to kick him out he simply said, "what are you gonna do?"
What do I do with that? How do I handle that kid?

I know! I know! Call the school resource officer! Get him out of your room! Right?

Yeah, but what does that teach that kid? He's so hardened and so enabled by his family that he flat doesn't care.

Do I care too much? Sometimes I think I do. My reasons for attempting to develop relationship with that kid was a small hope that I could reach him. That I could be that superman teacher that would reach into his life and create a love for learning.
So call it first/second year teacher naivete, but if I don't care why am I here?

I have to care and I have to be firm. Finding the balance is the key.