February 27, 2007
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Topic: Daily teaching reflection
Reflection continues to be important to me, as each day
brings new knowledge about my students, my subjects, and my profession. D….. proved to be my most challenging
student today. She made me frustrated
when she got up at the start of our literacy lesson, and despite her small
figure and quiet voice, she fired off cannons, “I don’t care, this is
stupid.” She walks away with a shrug,
completely defiant. Psychologically,
she appears as though she expects me to scream at her. After making comments, she will look my
way. She has even criticized me openly
for being, “too nice.” But, this is a
girl who won’t be controlled by me.
Still, this girl is a child, and she cried in class when I called home
one time. Her mom beats her when she
misbehaves, and after sending home a note on Monday, she commented, “my mom
didn’t hit me last night.”A blog linked from EdWize spoke about the uncivility of
working in schools. My two female
students define uncivility at times.
They walk out of the room when they want, they speak in a loud and
threatening tone for the smallest of things, they create activities for
themselves that are unrelated to what is being taught and are sometimes
inappropriate. They decide when they’re
going to the library, when it’s time to paint, when it’s time to move books.I’m aware that part of the problem is these students have
been in school for the last 5 years, and I’m back in it for the first time in a
while. I can’t meet all their needs,
and expectations for how they’re used to their classroom.What I think I realized today is that I need to become more
in charge, while also balancing the fact that my students won’t always do as I
say. On the side of control, I need to
set my expectations and reward students who go along with them. Students who are on task, kind, focused, and
making an effort will all be rewarded.
Students who are not, I am communicating that message to home, and at
the end of the day reflecting on why the student is acting as they are. What do they need to learn socially, and how
can they best learn that?Despite my idealism coming into teaching, the one thing I’ve
learned is that like most things in life, experience matters. I don’t yet have a bag of tricks for the
different students in my classroom, and I’m trying to absorb all the ideas
coming my way from other teachers. My
librarian suggested giving them choice, since pre-teens don’t like to always be
told what to do. So maybe letting them
choose when to do literacy and when to do math. Psychologically, this might help them participate rather than
rebel. I’ve begun starting the day with
a game of hangman, and beginning the last hour of the day after lunch with a
game of word bingo, to give the students the “fun,” that they and all people
really crave.I’ve become so focused on getting through the literacy
and math, that I’ve forgotten my true values of education. I want my students to enjoy coming to
school, and to teach things in fun and creative ways, while promoting positive
social behaviors. Now…on to the hard
part of putting this into action.
