So I’ve completed my first full-time term of teaching. I am currently celebrating with a box of Kleenex and some cold meds at home. I spent a long time reflecting on my students’ learning, but I should probably think about what I’m doing to. Not that I wasn’t before, but a big picture look is certainly needed. My biggest challenge, hands down, is classroom management. I am TERRIBLE at giving out consequences. I have always lived being aware of consequences and then not doing the thing that would garner said consequences. The mere existence of the idea of a consequence was enough. So I really struggle to enforce things. My students, obviously, are not the same way. If I give a student three warnings, it really turns into six. If I said they’d only get one warning, it would still be six. Not surprisingly, of course, students figured this out and used it and pushed it and then I was miserable. I cannot really blame them. I wasn’t sticking to my word; how could they take me seriously? At the start of term, I had a class that was truly a handful. Every personality was a big personality. That’s still very much the case now, though four students were transferred out to a homeroom group that only had 14 students (this class was at 30 before). I left at the end of each day feeling cranky and tired and angry at these students for being kids. I made them sit in for silent lunch minutes. I raised my voice and made grumpy faces a lot. The word “disappointed” popped up numerous times. Students figured out they could make me emotional. Eventually the other grade 9 class which was alright caught on too. It was a bit of a train wreck. This school is very discipline-focussed. When the school year began, there was a very loose detention system in place. That is, if a student did something a teacher didn’t like, they were written up for an hour after school detention (where they just sat quietly and did their homework or napped – not much impact). Some students would receive multiple detentions in a day for things like chewing gum, not tucking in their uniform, or forgetting their books. If they forgot that detention or didn’t show up, they were made to come in on Saturday mornings. I felt that detentions should be treated with gravity if they were to be in my management system at all. I’ve only ever given one out. Now, we have a system of demerit points. Certain behaviours have different amounts of demerits which are recorded on the student’s file. No one has decided how many demerits constitute a more serious response yet. In any case, I was tired of feeling like crap because of my grade 9 classes. I felt that it made them dread coming to my class too. But this whole time, I was struggling with how to fit management into my philosophy, and the school’s management philosophy. I still don’t have all the answers. But I had a long talk with a colleague of mine who has been very helpful in a number of things, Daniel. Daniel is known around the school for being quite strict, but I noticed that his students still respond really well to him. I asked him about the things that he does, and it was really no different from what I thought about doing. The difference was that he stood up for himself. He didn’t like leaving feeling like crap. And he didn’t like leaving feeling that way repeatedly. So he stood up for himself. Consequences came out right when they were supposed to, and swiftly. Consequences were not negotiated unless there really was extenuating circumstances. And very quickly, bad behaviours disappeared and there was more time for learning. I learned that being firm isn’t about being mean or negative towards students, but that it has a lot more to do with standing up for your own wellness. I believe in maintaining my wellness so that I can be the best for my kids – the old “you can’t pour someone else’s cup if you’re empty” cliché. So the next day, I filled my cup. I stood up to myself. I enforced consequences immediately. And the week went smoothly. And so did the weeks following. I admittedly had a bit of a rocky go last week, being sick and with the students coming back from break. But I’m prepared to continue standing up for me.
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Meagan Fullerton-LeeMeagan is an aspiring teacher, voracious reader, tentative motorcyclist, and passionate gardener. In all things she sees education. Here she shares her passions. Archives
January 2021
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