Student Teaching: Day 16
So today my c.t. was up and running at the speed of light. I think the lost time from being sick kicked her into gear and helped her decide to turn a new leaf for how she handles the class. There’s so much she wanted to get done and she decided that her old way of repeating to certain students about the right and wrong way to act during presentations, etc. was outdated. She had time limits in place and stuck to them. Anyone who was talking, was immediately called out and the second time, they received negative points on their classroom dojo , and the third time, they were out of the class. For actions that resulted in disrupting the whole class, the perpetrators were asked to write an email to their parents (which she reviewed and added her own tidbit) and leave the classroom to do work elsewhere.
She’s tired of slowing down for them and dragging the units and using half of class time to correct behavior. She really put her foot down. I, on the other hand, am still trying to decide what level of rowdy discussion (that’s right, it’s not noise to me -it’s always related to what we’re talking about) is too rowdy and loud. I guess because I don’t want them to feel like they don’t have a voice in class, or feel overwhelmed by the environment. But in exchange, it does take a while before the lesson progresses. I guess I need a system in place so I can give them breaks and ensure the lesson moves on as planned.
Side note: Something I learned today was there is some serious drama and tension between some students in the school and the teachers. In one case, it’s gotten so bad that they are transferring schools at the end of the year just so they don’t run into the chance of engaging with each other. That’s crazy! I know that some days that certain students or teachers are just cranky or in a bad mood or have serious issues, but man, that is ridiculous. I’m not saying I haven’t heard instances of fractured or bad relationships between teachers and students, but just that given what I know about both parties, at least in this one case, I would never have thought they would have even had the opportunity to butt heads. But I guess that’s what’s interesting about human beings, or just things in general - things may not always be what they appear.
