Day 2: The Whiplash of Middle School Teaching
Day two of teaching and I successfully survived. Honestly, I feel like I got whiplash with how simultaneously fantastic and horrible the day went. I don’t think I can convey the feelings properly through text, but I thought it would be a fun challenge to give it a go. One class I’m moving around the room, engaging with students, the next I feel like I’m running from desk to desk to perform precision bomb defusing.
Seriously, it’s that intense of a shift. If you read my post yesterday, you’ll know that I’m becoming particularly fond of teaching 6th grade students. That remains true today. I don’t know if it’s just the grade level, or if it’s the classes I have, but they seem to come to class hungry for discussion and heavy learning. In other words, they’re knowledge sponges. They soak it all up until they’re so full it starts spilling back out of them.
Don’t get me wrong, I still have several 7th and 8th graders that are a delight to be around, but there seem to be more of them that are only interested in the personal destruction of my psyche… Ok, not really. I know it’s not personal, but it can be tough to see through it sometimes. Some of these kids know how to push buttons, and they do it well.
Still, I haven’t had to discipline anyone yet… (‘yet’ being the key word) And I’m trying to look at this as a challenge. Not the kids, but the situation. As far as I can tell the kids who test me most aren’t afraid of a call home, lunch detention, or in-school-suspension. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’ve been to those places so many times that it’s become second nature to them.
In other words, they don’t care. That’s the challenge I’m facing. How do you get better behavior out of someone when traditional methods don’t work? Today I tried to adapt. Instead of starting with a long boring assignment, I played a game with them first. That worked well, but only for about ten of the sixty minutes. The rest of the class I spent putting out fire after fire, barely managing to teach anything in between. Eventually, I ran out of steam, got a bunch of wooden blocks out and let them build towers.
Oddly, that calmed them down quite nicely, and maybe that’s a piece to the puzzle. If I can plan more activities that get them using their hands, something more physical, maybe they’ll focus more.
For tomorrow, I’m planning on pivoting yet again. Honestly, a big part of me feels like it’ll be an utter flop, but like I tell my students, failing is just how we get experience points. (In case you forgot, I teach game design) Basically, I’m planning on taking a handful of board games and card games and setting up several tables to play on.
I know that doesn’t sound very instructional, but here’s the thing: I’m hoping that by getting them away from academics for a half hour, I can hop from table to table and try interact with them. I may be naive, but I’m hoping that I’ll connect with them better. Instead of teaching them to fear the consequences, I want them to look up to me. That much is sound right? When you respect someone, you’re more likely to work well with them.
That’s the big catch, though, isn’t it? The respect logic may be sound, but will this plan of attack help me gain that respect? Time will tell.
Finally, one of the greatest parts of my day came during my final class. They came in, I told them how difficult my day had been, and asked them politely to spread themselves out, try not to talk out of turn, and help me get through the lesson. Fortunately, they listened. (And they weren’t even 6th graders!)
I can’t even begin to tell you how much that meant to me—and I was sure to tell my students that. In fact, by the end of the day, I felt obliged to offer them a batch of home made cookies. (ones baking as I write this post) Tomorrow, I’m going to make good on that promise and give them a well deserved reward. Because if there’s one thing I know, it’s that food (especially cookies) is among the highest rewards in the sight of a middle school student. And hey, if nothing else, I’ll get some more XP.
