Like Rosa Parks
So I started teaching my Intersession course today. Intersession is the three-week breaks that year-round schools get in leiu of one long summer vacation, and many kids attend two-week courses taught mostly by outside individuals. I'm doing a course on early colonization, the bulk of which is a simulation in which the kids pretend to be colonists and govern their colony. I have a morning class of ten 3rd and four 4th graders and an afternoon class of four 4th graders, ten 5th graders and four 6th graders.
The morning went great. The afternoon, not so much.
Part of the issue is that not all the 5th and 6th graders signed up for my class (some got put in because another class got cancelled), so they weren't really all that interested to begin with; also, I think the older kids i think have slightly less of an easy imagination, and they realize that they're pretty much being forced to do school during their break, so they're generally resistant to the idea of working hard.
I've got some strategies in mind for addressing the problem, and tomorrow's going to get a lot more interactive and up-and-moving, so I expect improvement in behavior, but I'd like to share this little anecdote:
The class was slightly out of control, just a lot of talking out of turn and talking over other people. Now, I have a laid-back style that definitely isn't authoritarian, so my first instinct is to try to request and reason rather than raise my voice. At some point, one of the 6th graders turns to me and says:
"Mr. H, you gotta be strict! Like Rosa Parks!"
Yes, in fact, the kids were asking me to yell at them. Explicitly. I'd never experienced anything like it. What a bizarre psychology! I understand that they were testing me and seeing how far I'd go, but they had managed to set up a scenario in which if I did raise my voice to regain control, they were in essence getting what they wanted. It was a surreal moment (I did, for the record, have to finally raise my voice and give a stern threat, which did quiet them for a while).
I hate the idea that I have to raise my voice to maintain control of the class; I definitely don't yet have the instincts and anticipation to walk the line between structure and independence. But, hey, that's why I chose to gain this experience before I hit the real classroom full-time.
Teaching -- it's always an adventure.
The morning went great. The afternoon, not so much.
Part of the issue is that not all the 5th and 6th graders signed up for my class (some got put in because another class got cancelled), so they weren't really all that interested to begin with; also, I think the older kids i think have slightly less of an easy imagination, and they realize that they're pretty much being forced to do school during their break, so they're generally resistant to the idea of working hard.
I've got some strategies in mind for addressing the problem, and tomorrow's going to get a lot more interactive and up-and-moving, so I expect improvement in behavior, but I'd like to share this little anecdote:
The class was slightly out of control, just a lot of talking out of turn and talking over other people. Now, I have a laid-back style that definitely isn't authoritarian, so my first instinct is to try to request and reason rather than raise my voice. At some point, one of the 6th graders turns to me and says:
"Mr. H, you gotta be strict! Like Rosa Parks!"
Yes, in fact, the kids were asking me to yell at them. Explicitly. I'd never experienced anything like it. What a bizarre psychology! I understand that they were testing me and seeing how far I'd go, but they had managed to set up a scenario in which if I did raise my voice to regain control, they were in essence getting what they wanted. It was a surreal moment (I did, for the record, have to finally raise my voice and give a stern threat, which did quiet them for a while).
I hate the idea that I have to raise my voice to maintain control of the class; I definitely don't yet have the instincts and anticipation to walk the line between structure and independence. But, hey, that's why I chose to gain this experience before I hit the real classroom full-time.
Teaching -- it's always an adventure.
This entry was posted
on Monday, March 27, 2006 at 2:58 PM.
|
