More Classroom Management!!!

Though I really want a noisy class, my students here in Aleppo are going a little bit beyond my hopes and expectations. I fear that I will have to make an example of a few students this week and assign some lunchtime detentions. It will be my own brand of detention: lunch taken in silence followed by a debrief of why the students are staying in and making a plan to ensure they do not find themselves in at lunch again. (Lofty goals for a thirty minute lunch break!) I am somewhat hesitant to assign detentions though because I have observed that these consequences do not seem to stick with this particular group of students.

I think that these students need a tailor-made approach. I agree that they need to practice their listening skills and being respectful towards others, but they should be practicing these habits through opportunities that either play on their strengths or are so meaningful to these students that the kids cannot help but get tuned in and focused.

I have encountered a lot of middle-school aged kids as a camp counsellor, and there are always kids who are not listeners. When considering boys in particular – it is the behaviour of the boys in my classes that other teachers and myself are finding the most challenging – these guys can often be self-centered doers and jokers who feed off of one another. They like to talk, which unfortunately interferes with their listening. While I agree that these students can do some great work when they finally sit down and get to it, the fact that there is a regular struggle between teacher and student to get to that productive point suggests that these students are lacking buy-in. The typical presentation of the material does not jive for these students.

Some teachers manage this group by being strict disciplinarians and maintaining a rigid class structure. Personally, I find it hard to believe that a student constantly sent into the hallway or to the vice-principal is going to eventually start learning effectively, although the rest of the class might be kept in line through this one person’s punishment. I think that it is better to channel students’ energy rather than fight and contain it because the majority of these students are going to grow out of their self-centered behaviour anyways! Students receive countless reminders about listening to and being respectful towards other, but it is a lot nicer for everybody involved if students are praised for when they do listen instead of being reprimanded when they do not.

As I go through my last week of in-class teaching, it is my hope to put some of these vague notions into practice. Wish me luck as I try making up lessons for students who really like being at school but have trouble listening once they have an opportunity to start talking!

Happy Easter!

Managing Age, Language, and Education

What is causing so much nervous energy in my students? As I began teaching the Grade 6 and Grade 7 Humanities classes this week, I was fascinated, intrigued, and a little horrified at the constant motion these students demonstrate throughout a period. The students at this school are all very polite to teachers, and it is pretty wonderful when students go out of their way between periods to pop their head inside the staff room and say hello. On the other hand – wow! The effort it takes to get them to listen to me or each other once they are worked up is a little overwhelming!

As I have been putting together my lessons to teach these students about the Crusader castles we are visiting in just two weeks, I have repeatedly been considering where their motion, their energy, and their sociability flows from in the hopes of tapping into that energy rather than suppressing it! After working with kids of the same age at summer camp, part of me feels that these students are simply acting their age. Eleven- and twelve-year olds can be bad listeners and are very active. I also wonder if the fact that English – the language of instruction – is a second language to the majority of these kids plays into their behaviour. I can tell that a good deal of their discussion is the result of explaining something to a neighbour. Finally, I am also aware that I am working with kids who have been brought up in a very social culture. Students do not see each other outside of school and so class time seems to be regarded as another opportunity to catch up, play, and hang out!

We will see how the week goes, but one thing is certain – I do not need to get the students excited to learn at the beginning of each period. These kids are already firing on all cylinders. Maybe if I build up the excitement throughout the class, I will have a little more success harnessing that energy! On the other hand, the kids here are just as wonderful here as they anywhere else I have been, so I know that I am going to laugh with them in spite of whatever challenges they throw my way!

Leading the Way in Inconsistent Behaviour

The students who participate in planning leadership camps at my practicum school are incredibly passionate about and dedicated to creating a leadership camp experience that builds on the fantastic time that they themselves had as delegates only a few years before. At the camp that I helped to supervise in the late fall, I was stunned to learn that these students were willing and able to provide a quality camp to delegates when running on only a few hours of sleep. Their motivation in that moment was such that, whether or not this was a reasonable and healthy choice, they were willing to push their own physical limits in order to pull off the camp that they had been dreaming of and planning for the previous three months.

It was therefore so frustrating for me to attend a leadership planning meeting this past Monday to observe this dedicated group carrying on a multitude of side discussions throughout the course of their time together. Brainstorming was definitely less efficient with only part of the group tuned into the discussion, and the disregard that some students showed towards their peers was shocking. Were these the same individuals that had shown a united front dedicated to seeing through a quality leadership camp?

While many of the students involved in planning leadership camp have strong intrinsic motivations for directing considerable time and energy to this extracurricular activity, I wonder if the extrinsic rewards of being recognized as a member of the planning committee or validating the club to skeptical teachers are actually what focus the entire group to complete tasks. Perhaps these students acquire and demonstrate greater motivation as they are able to see the fruits of the labour. Because the group is so large, it may be that a consensus model is unwieldy for organizing such a large event. I believe that the energy these students invest into leadership camp can be directed towards other activities, but it is essential to identify and harness consistent sources of motivation rather than tapping unsustainable levels of commitment.