*This story is divided into two parts because of its length.
At the end of my ninth year of teaching, I had a few teachers ask me what my secret is when it comes to classroom management. I have a bit of a reputation for running a tight ship. I gave a vague answer about being kind but consistent, but when I got home I realized that I had only given them a small part of what I do. The secret to my classroom management success, is that I’ll do just about anything to get students to learn.
Four years ago, I moved to Austin, Texas with my husband who was going to attend Graduate school. I took the first job I found to support him and our infant daughter while he worked on his degree. I had three years of teaching experience under my belt when my new principal told me, “This is a pretty rough school.” I nodded like I understood. After all, I had worked in rough schools for years; I knew how to handle students.
On the first day, I began one of my discipline tactics; I was going to greet my students at the door. When the first student approached, I put out my hand for him to shake. “Good morning!” I said cheerfully. He looked at my hand and then at my face, then he snorted and walked into my class without shaking my hand. “Hmm, he is going to be a challenge,” I thought, and then tried to greet the next student. It was as if the encounter was on repeat. Each student walked past me without acknowledging me; I must have received two handshakes from that first class. When I went into the classroom to introduce myself and go over classroom procedures, I was surprised again by their disinterest. They ignored my introduction, choosing to talk to one another instead. When I asked for their attention again, they began firing questions at me: Was I going to be a boring teacher? How old was I? Was I going to be mean? Now very nervous, I ignored their questions and tried to move on to one of the get-to-know-you activities I had prepared for the class. I had had a lot of success with that activity at other schools.
This was a huge rookie mistake I was making, though I didn’t realize it at the time. I was trying to push my way through a lesson that the students were not ready for. I had not established the positive environment I needed to have a fun activity, but I wanted to do it anyway because I had prepared it. I put the students into random pairs of two. This set all of them into rejection mode. None of them wanted to work with someone that they were not friends with. I hadn’t realized how much more strongly middle schoolers will hold on to their “kin”, then high school students. When I gave them the “fun” questions to ask each other, they stood there silently with their arms folded. One student began asking his partner insulting questions, and I had to end the activity.
But, my errors did not stop there. I continued daily, trying to “move on”, with my lessons before I had gotten the students to buy into my class. I tried to have them read aloud, they refused. I tried to turn my back to them and write notes on the board, they barked and whistled when I wasn’t looking. One morning, in the middle of my lesson, two boys jumped up and started a “sword-fight” with my rulers behind my desk while the class cheered. I had to call security for the first time that year and it felt like defeat. After class, I was trying to write a referral online when the assistant principal showed up to discuss what had happened. I told her and then asked for help with the referral. I will never forget what she said to me, “But, they were just playing right? They weren’t really fighting? You can’t write that referral.” I tried to explain that disrupting my class justified a write-up while she smilingly shook her head. I found out later by talking to other teachers, that discipline on that campus was handled primarily by teachers. Administration only stepped in for very serious infractions, like drugs or violence.
When the assistant principal left, I was so furious, I was shaking and hanging on to my tears with everything I had. Then, one of the sword-fighting students returned to apologize, I will never know why he came back, but he did. Mid-way through his apology, I started sobbing while that poor child stammered, “I’m so sorry Miss, please don’t cry Miss, please!” I could see he was terrified, but it felt as if a gate had been opened that could not be closed. I finally pulled myself together and thanked him and then somehow made it through the rest of the day.
At home that night, I was still upset, but also very angry that I could not teach my own classes. It felt very personal that these students seemed to hate me without even knowing me. I thought about the boy that had come back to apologize. “These are good children,” I thought, “I just have to get them to give me a chance.”
The first thing I would do, was stop trying to go on with my lessons. My students were not ready to listen to me. I had to get them to see me as a human being, and not just as their teacher.
On the next day, I opened by telling them that I didn’t like the way our class was going and that I wanted to start again. I showed them a picture of my infant daughter. Several students smiled at her picture while I told them about her. I told them how much I missed her, and that it was hard to be away from her all day. Then I explained why I was telling them about her, “The reason I am introducing you all to my daughter, is because I want you to know how much I understand that there are other places you would rather be. I know there are other people you would rather be with. But, we are here together, and while we are here together, we are going to make the most of this time. I promise you that I will not waste your time with busy work. I am here to prepare you and help you, and I will not give up on you. You might not believe me yet, but you will. I will do everything I can to help you succeed, because I want that for you. You do not know me yet, but you will soon see that I care about each and every one of you.” The students were a bit taken aback by this speech, but they were silent and willing to listen. At least they were willing to not jump behind my desk and fight with rulers.
I then led the class in a discussion about what we could do to make our class more productive. Yes, some students suggested that we just talk and never read or write, but their demeanor was lighter, they were opening up to me, just a fraction—it was all I needed. I was not finished however, I still had several students that were not going to be that easy. Some students had been let down too many times, some were too invested in their gangs, some students were only there because their parole officer had personally brought them to my class. These were students that were not going to respond to referrals and detention, they had spent their entire school career being punished, I wanted to connect with them.
I started reaching out to those students individually. I had one student that in the back and never spoke, but I could tell he was a leader when he refused to read and the rest of the students followed like dominos. Before the next class, I kept him outside while the other students filed in. I explained that while I understood that he didn’t want to read, that I really needed to get the class reading because it was my job. I asked him for his help, “Please read two sentences and I will call someone else.” I said. He was hesitant, but he agreed. After he read, every student read, and then I read to them. It was a very small step, but I was getting somewhere. It occurred to me, that I might have to speak to each one of my students one-on-one, to get them to invest in my class—as it turns out, that is exactly what I would do.
*This story will continue in Part Two
Vivian Maguire is an English Teacher and a parent in El Paso, TX. Follow her on Twitter @Maguireteacher.
