Submitted by Carol Cantrell, North Carolina
Idea posted April 24, 2002
I never thought I would actually be writing this, because I've always been one of those people that believe if you cannot reach your students, you are doing something wrong. All of a sudden, with my first teaching job I have proven myself wrong...
I could have written these exact words in 1968 when I first started teaching. It's a sweet and very responsible posture, but naive and unlearned. Get this straight: You are NOT doing something wrong - with the possible exception of "caring" too much. More about that in a minute...
I cannot beGIN to express to you my horror that first year in Caruthersville, Missouri, to discover that I had a student I just despised. Really loathed. And classes out of control? Oh - my - God. One day yet another class came into my room laughing and shouting, not responding at all and just in general being chaotic, and some kid came up to me and asked for some special privilege, I don't remember what - to play the piano or a record or I don't know what. The din was so loud I could not even read his lips. When I realized he was wanting to make some more NOISE, something in my head just plain SNAPPED, and without knowing it, I THREW my keys across the (large!) room, shouting, "They couldn't even HEAR you if I DID let you!" I couldn't even believe he had ASKED! AND I couldn't believe I had thrown something - I realized immediately that I would have thrown whatever I had in my hand - heavy, light, plastic, breakable, it wouldn't have mattered in the least. I was, for that instant, personally out of control. Quiet? You could have heard a leaf drop for sure. It would be hard to say who was more surprised, me or the kids.
When you are young, or even just new in town, but particularly when you are young, kids just HAVE to try to find out how far they can push. And if they find out the administration is asleep at the wheel? Wooooooooooooooooooo! There seems to be no limit - especially with kids this old. This is magnified even more when they know you really CARE about your work. I know that seems odd, but it's true. You really have to disengage your active emotions (reacting to what is said, getting "disturbed" by various and sundry, trying to "please" them, trying to "entertain" them, trying to somehow, someway make them "happy") and proceed with assignments and activities in which you have confidence, whether they "like" them or not. Assign them the work, then do not repeat, remind, or assist; sit down at your desk and drink something out of a cup. Non-alcoholic, of course, but drink something; tea, coffee, a soda you have poured in there before they came to class...
The suggestions you have received are truly excellent suggestions, and I "second" each and every one, insofar as you are able to employ them. Sometimes something that works in one situation does most abundantly NOT work in another. You are the only one who can make that determination. I'm pretty sure I'd try strapping them into some listening lessons with questions to answer and definitions to look up and copy down. Since their grades don't seem to count, it might be useful to make a very small chart - maybe just a plain page - which you post on a corner of the board or some visible but not prominent place, entitled, "Students Who Did Their Work Today," put all their names on it, and make columns for dates. Enter a symbol - check mark, whatever - to represent their cooperation and participation. You may be resisting using "written work" because it is "meaningless." WROOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNG!!! A great deal of the meaning of written work is CONTROL. And that is what you need at this moment. The funny thing is that they will actually learn from it. DON'T try to be seen as "cool." That's just WAY too much of a challenge for them - they will be gunning for you ALL the time.
Dividing the long class up into two or three segments of predictable activity sounds very good to me. If you have them do projects, consider getting an outside source to "adjudicate" them. Tell the kids the projects will be judged by so-and-so (music teacher from another school, local musician, conductor, whatEVer) and see if that piques their interest. Maybe so, maybe not. But make a small poster or section on the board noting whose work was judged first, second, whatever. Since their grades don't count for anything (of all the shameful administrative disasters!), see if you can think of some "prizes." Is there someone around there who would help you out? A tour backstage of a local theater, a really good church organist who would show the prize-winner the inner workings of the organ, someone who would give you tickets to some performances or ball games - it doesn't really HAVE to relate to music. Even some coupons for something free at some fast food places - if you have the time and energy to go talk to the managers in person, telling them that you are a new teacher with some students who need some outside motivation, and asking them point-blank for help (take the request along in writing as well, since they have to have records for tax purposes), you may well get some support. THEN, if you do get some goodies, do NOT "announce" it to the class. Verrrrrrrrrrry casually, when some student has done something appropriate, just say, "Hmm. This is really good work, and I'm impressed. I have a coupon for a _______ here that I'd like you to have." About TWO of those little comments might reverberate nicely. They'll start wanting to know why they can't have one. At that point you can say, with great diffidence, "Oh. Well. That's to recognize effort and cooperation." No lectures, no instructions, no babble. In any event, you need to develop an air about you that signals to the kids that you are aware, you see what they are doing, but you are not going to argue, nag, wheedle, or whatever. You're the adult.
In my first two teaching situations, Missouri and Arkansas, where the principals might as well have been dead, I did a lot of bargaining with the kids - meet my (extremely LOW!) expectations four days a week or a month or whatever, and we would have a "free" day - affectionately called a "record day" - on Friday. The kids would bring their records and play all period on Friday. Of course, with the unbelievably filthy lyrics now, you couldn't do that. But basically you have to get through the rest of this just the best way you can figure out.
What you have here is, in my opinion, the worst of all possible worlds: kids who are, in Roberta's words, hormones with feet; a teacher who is young and sincere and inexperienced but eager to do things right; and an administration who, as they would say in Texas, is all hat and no cattle. The administration doesn't have a CLUE of what to do with these kids, so instead of taking the ONLY position of integrity and helping you (a) deal with them directly, and (b) develop skills to deal with similar situations in the future, instead of THAT, the administration is simply BLAMING you!! Very facile. Very slick. Very not worth the paper they're printed on. I know there are charter schools that are doing a good job, but much of what I see under the charter umbrella is not impressive. They start out quite sure they can do better than the public schools, and dismiss all of our collective public school efforts as nonsense - but they really don't have a freaking CLUE. I won't waste cyberspace with my full assessment of all that, but you are definitely stuck in the vortex, and I'm on the side of those who have suggested you get the heck out and shake the dust from your feet as you go.
Finally, let me suggest one more thing. START MAKING NOTES ABOUT ALL THIS. In fact, go back as far as possible and sketch out what happened when. Instances of non-cooperation, not following instructions, any hateful or rude or similar remarks, keeping a running record of what happened, what you tried, et cetera. MOST IMPORTANT: Communicate with your administration in writing only, and keep copies of that and everything else you do. Go back as far as possible with this, too, noting all your interactions with the administration, the incidents, and what the administrator(s) said and did (or did not do...). If you do it on computer at school, keep it on a disk that you take home daily. Just keep it in your purse. You need to be able to show that you made the administration aware of your situation, and that they did nothing. Writing it down is THE way.
Finally, as you begin your search for your next job (!!), I will point out that I don't know ANYone who likes all ages equally. Even on the elementary level, the people who teach primary ages wouldn't DREAM of teaching the intermediate levels, and vice versa. Different ages have general characteristics that appeal to some and not to other teachers. Be realistic about who and what you enjoy most, and seek that out.
I am not at all suggesting that you stop caring about the kids and what you do. When that happens, look for other work. I AM suggesting that you back away for perspective, and not pour energy down an open hole where it is just being wasted. Why, even in the Bible, it says not to cast your pearls before swine! And it sounds like you can paraphrase that old Indian poem, "In Beauty now I walk - beauty above me, beauty below me..." In your case, it would be, "In SWINE now I walk!!! Swine above me! Swine below me! Swine all AROUND me!!! Snouts, hooves, sweaty hides, twisty tails..." Try thinking THAT the next time you have to deal with the administration or the next time the ninth graders come to class!!!