I know you've all been holding your breath wondering if my crack down methods were making a difference at summer school. Well, I can honestly say that I am learning a world about classroom management from these little learners this summer. I've been getting some good advice from a teacher who has seen first hand the disarray that occurs in my room on a day to day basis.
The first "trick" he taught me was to not be such an enabler. So, like any good teacher (or so I thought), I'd immediately approach a student with their hand in the air to promptly answer their question so their learning could continue. It didn't occur to me that not only was I teaching the lesson with the whole class, but then I was running myself ragged trying to reteach it to each individual student who'd failed to listen when I modeled the skill the first time. By the end of the day I was exhausted and frustrated because I felt that no one was listening to me. And they weren't. They'd quickly realized that I'd come to their rescue when they had a question, so why listen when I show you how to use the mortgage calculator on the big screen?
The SPED teacher told me to explain it once. Then refuse to repeat the instructions. Now this might sound harsh and cruel and certainly counter-intuitive to a teacher, but when I asked the students to check with their neighbor, read the directions, or stop and think about their questions- they always figured out what they needed to do. So many middle school kiddos want you to stand over them and do the work for them, they love that one on one attention.
I have resigned my enabling hat and will continue to think twice before answering the call, "teacher lady, I don't know what to do!"
My students will be problem solvers!
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