An object in motion tends to remain ...
In my advanced English class we are reading Lord of the Flies. This unit is focused on what constitutes a hero, and this section is of course determining whether human nature is innately good or evil. WHAT will the little boys do when they are left on their own??? Will Roger realize that there are no consequences for throwing stones at little Henry and will it all go downhill from there?? What will protect little Henry when parents, the law, policemen, and teachers all fail?
What my kids have thus far glossed over in the book is the curious and magical moment in the very first chapter when Jack declares "we'll have rules! Lots of rules!!"
They tell us that kids want rules, want order, actually WANT to be told what to do, very explicitly. And want to be made to adhere to these rules, generally speaking. This is supposed to make us feel better about classroom management, about enforcing our consequences. I buy it. But, talking from possibly the best assignment in the corps, I'd like to point out that not only do kids want to follow our rules ... they really WANT to like and trust and respect us, too. It is a game, it is a challenge, but basically if you try, you'll win ... with a lot of them.
An example, knowing I'm coming from the blessed ....
The first weeks of school I was doing good to have my rules and consequences posted. A few weeks later I got up the gumption to post rewards. An A-wall, which I have yet to implement. Tickets, which I began distributing immediately. Unfortunately, for a good two weeks after I started giving out tickets I didn't put up what they were good for. But the kids wanted them anyway. For two weeks, they just trusted me that they were worth something. With no reason to. I got an assignment from a student this term, my turn-around term when I actually started grading every important piece of work that came through my hands and stopped leaving them in piles on my bedroom floor until the night before progress reports were due ... and from a girl who decorates every project with exquisite hand-made artwork a note, "please return"
But she decorated it anyway.
Point being, I am constantly surprised at the faith these kids place in me, in us, in everyone. They want us to care about the details. They want us to know which side of the paper the heading goes on and whether it's a good idea for them to try out for the play this fall and what we think of their poetry. They want us to like them. And, they want to like us. That's why this works for me, for joe shmoe down the hall, for sally smith, for whoever really tries. I didn't always do right by my kids. There are plenty of assignments they never got back, a few that didn't make as much sense as they should have, and, i'll admit it, we spent the first three weeks of ALL MY CLASSES reading "The Sniper" For THREE WEEKS. but they trusted me anyway.
Some of my students this term have done complete 180's from last semester, have started turning in their work and paying attention in class, even reading, and honestly, I don't know where it came from. But when I point out to them how much better they're doing ... they seem so pleased. They know it and I know it ... but they want me to say it. And you realize how much more you could have been doing. When I showed my 5th block their term grades and exam grades I told a few of them that there was no excuse for, say, a 57 on the term when they can pull and 89 on the exam. And for some of them ... that's all it took, I've gotten work from them ever since. And to think that I didn't spend the thirty seconds it would have taken me to say the same thing after the first nine weeks. But still, they trust me.
Kozol says, of a man filling out paperwork to get his daughter enrolled in school, "the father's earnestness, his faith in the importance of these details ... stay in my mind later"
These students' firm, unquestioning faith ... despite everything ... will stay in our minds.
What my kids have thus far glossed over in the book is the curious and magical moment in the very first chapter when Jack declares "we'll have rules! Lots of rules!!"
They tell us that kids want rules, want order, actually WANT to be told what to do, very explicitly. And want to be made to adhere to these rules, generally speaking. This is supposed to make us feel better about classroom management, about enforcing our consequences. I buy it. But, talking from possibly the best assignment in the corps, I'd like to point out that not only do kids want to follow our rules ... they really WANT to like and trust and respect us, too. It is a game, it is a challenge, but basically if you try, you'll win ... with a lot of them.
An example, knowing I'm coming from the blessed ....
The first weeks of school I was doing good to have my rules and consequences posted. A few weeks later I got up the gumption to post rewards. An A-wall, which I have yet to implement. Tickets, which I began distributing immediately. Unfortunately, for a good two weeks after I started giving out tickets I didn't put up what they were good for. But the kids wanted them anyway. For two weeks, they just trusted me that they were worth something. With no reason to. I got an assignment from a student this term, my turn-around term when I actually started grading every important piece of work that came through my hands and stopped leaving them in piles on my bedroom floor until the night before progress reports were due ... and from a girl who decorates every project with exquisite hand-made artwork a note, "please return"
But she decorated it anyway.
Point being, I am constantly surprised at the faith these kids place in me, in us, in everyone. They want us to care about the details. They want us to know which side of the paper the heading goes on and whether it's a good idea for them to try out for the play this fall and what we think of their poetry. They want us to like them. And, they want to like us. That's why this works for me, for joe shmoe down the hall, for sally smith, for whoever really tries. I didn't always do right by my kids. There are plenty of assignments they never got back, a few that didn't make as much sense as they should have, and, i'll admit it, we spent the first three weeks of ALL MY CLASSES reading "The Sniper" For THREE WEEKS. but they trusted me anyway.
Some of my students this term have done complete 180's from last semester, have started turning in their work and paying attention in class, even reading, and honestly, I don't know where it came from. But when I point out to them how much better they're doing ... they seem so pleased. They know it and I know it ... but they want me to say it. And you realize how much more you could have been doing. When I showed my 5th block their term grades and exam grades I told a few of them that there was no excuse for, say, a 57 on the term when they can pull and 89 on the exam. And for some of them ... that's all it took, I've gotten work from them ever since. And to think that I didn't spend the thirty seconds it would have taken me to say the same thing after the first nine weeks. But still, they trust me.
Kozol says, of a man filling out paperwork to get his daughter enrolled in school, "the father's earnestness, his faith in the importance of these details ... stay in my mind later"
These students' firm, unquestioning faith ... despite everything ... will stay in our minds.
posted by Miss Marshwater at 3:06 PM
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