Looking Nervous

Yesterday I promised to tell you a story to demonstrate the power of your own behavior in terms of desired student behavior in the classroom. Keep in mind, you cannot modify anyone's behavior other than your own. Knowing this will resolve the majority of classroom management problems you may face. So, now for the story.

It was my first year of teaching science at a large, not quite urban, but not quite suburban either high school with plenty of "those kids". You know the ones, blurting out, running the show, nobody's going to tell them what to do, and oh yea, school, what's the point? Who doesn't want a part of that teaching action?! Well, I did.

I took over an assignment left in December by a wonderful young woman whom I had the chance to meet prior to her taking a position at a private school. I wondered to myself, how can I possibly take over after her, the kids must love her - I'm doomed! Well, the holidays were just around the corner and I would be taking over right after the New Year's holiday. The first day arrived, I was excited, this was truly what I wanted to be doing. I had just left a position of five years as an environmental scientist for a large company, traveling all over the country, and decided it was time to utilize my teaching credential and bring science to life for kids. This was my chance to make a positive difference in education!

The days passed and I was having a wonderful time teaching science. I could not believe I was getting paid the same salary working 180 days as I was being paid for 270 days working in industry, this was meant to be! By now I had gotten to know the students fairly well, so I decided to ask my 4th period students why my predecessor left such a great job. Mind you, my 4th period students were the wild and wiggly ones right before lunch - I always trusted their input.

During a lab activity (I didn't have much to do, it was all about them) I asked one simple question, "Why did Ms. ____ leave? This is such a wonderful job, there's plenty of supplies, you guys are a lot of fun, and the faculty and staff are very helpful. Why would she leave all of this?" The whole class broke out in laughter, proudly stating, "We're why she left!" I asked them what they meant and they said, "One day we were doing this lab with lima beans and everytime she turned around to write on the board, we threw the beans are her. We made her cry!" "That's nothing to be proud of" I responded back. "You guys should be ashamed of yourselves! Why don't you do those things to me?" The answer absolutely astounded me (teacher preparation programs simply cannot teach this). Their answer was, "We don't do stuff like that to you 'cause you don't look nervous."

Truer words were never spoken.

You're stories and comments are welcomed. Let's solve some classroom management problems.

Stef