We're definitely "smelling the barn"! With only 5 days of teaching and 3 days of finals remaining until the end of this school year, students and teachers are equally excited. I also sense that most of us have taken our foot off the gas with the end of the road in sight so that we can gradually drift to a comfortable stop. Teachers are frequently found in huddles in hallways, engaged in idle conversation when we would normally be rushing to make copies or get to class. On Friday, I saw one who dressed professionally with a tie every day actually in a Hawaiian shirt and sandals!
With that smell in the air, this feels like a good time to reflect on the past year.
Overall, I think "trial by fire" is the most appropriate description of my first teaching experience. Everyone seems to acknowledge what a difficult situation it must be to start at a school part way into the year. It took several months just to understand how the school operates and what leverage I have with the students. I made rules from day one, but for a long time, I wasn't clear on the order of warnings or consequences to follow them. Until I got that part worked out, it seemed to depend on my mood any given day - how much misbehavior I was willing to tolerate and whether I was likely to write a referral. That was probably the biggest challenge for me, but I also believe it had to be learned and developed through experience.
It was definitely a roller coaster, and I can't say I ever gained full control of student behavior, but we did have some significant breakthroughs. I took time for some serious discussions about respect, responsibility, how to succeed and how their character in this class relates to life outside of school - including their future performance. I made a verbal declaration on my stand for everyone to succeed and listened to their ideas on what we can do to help each other.
It made a clearly visible impact for several days, but I then realized I need to work on consistency. It feels like making a New Year's resolution to go to the gym, as many people do, yet so many of us lose our motivation and fall back into the previously casual routine. I would say it takes daily reminders along with a taste of what success feels like to stay on track.
Here are a couple areas I found useful and effective which I hope to continue next year:
- Communication. Contacting parents for support with struggling and chronically disruptive students. Some parents expressed no hope while others were fairly shocked by what they heard. I continued to call the same parents when their children continued to misbehave, and that consistency made more of a difference. Finally, I decided to make at least one positive phone call each time I ran through my list, which (selfishly) helped boost my own morale. I never heard students respond to those calls, but I hope it made them feel better about the class.
- Group Accountability. Arranging desks into groups rather than rows. This was risky since I knew how much students like to socialize, but I emphasized the power of group accountability and how I expect for them to help each other succeed. We practiced working in groups: dividing up assignments, teaching each other, and helping others complete their work. In addition, they would be rewarded or disciplined based on their performance as a group. This was done with a team spirit - demonstrating how we are accountable to others in our lives, and we only win if everyone is successful.
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