Summertime & the Reflection is Easy, Well Sort Of

Hmmm, summer, time to reflect on the successes, challenges, and down right failures we all experienced as classroom managers over this past academic year. It's tough, but the gathering of thoughts on all of the positives means these reflections have to fight their way to the surface without being surpassed by those negative recollections that seem to seldom go away and often haunt our dreams (nightmares might be more like it). The good news is, the good almost always out weighs the bad (or no one would return to the classroom in the fall).

I consider myself a successful classroom manager - not from talent, but from years of experience, dumb luck, and the ability to categorize and label the good stuff that works and guide other teachers in the same direction. So, let me focus on one of my personal dumb luck, "like dah", experiences from this spring. The "ah, hah" moment this time was simply letting students in some science classes do what they want, explore and discover. The state-wide and district-wide assessments were over, it was late May and in the kids' minds, school was already out, never mind there was yet a month to go. The dress code had pretty much been abandoned, gum chewing was at a new high and picking a fight each afternoon was a normal entertainment. As an effective faculty and administration, these things didn't cause us to miss a beat, but actual learning, now that was a challenge and classroom management becomes more of a challenge too under these conditions.

A colleague and I had earlier tossed a round an idea of holding a "Beyond the Volcano Science Symposium". It sounded like a lot of work, it would need a a lot of resources, and the kids probably wouldn't be motivated to participate. What could be a better set of circumstances to try something new? We decided to just throw it out there and see what would happen.

For three weeks our laboratories were a buzz with experiments and chaos -it was wonderful, there were no discipline issues. Students didn't even look up when someone walked in the room, they were so tightly focused on building a hover craft, figuring out if different types of music effect heart rate, or which glue combined with salts makes the better rubber compound. As the day of the symposium drew nearer and reminders of the invited guests were repeated, the energy and anxiety levels rose, there was such a sense of excitement. The symposium didn't disappoint in any way. The students dressed up and waited anxiously by their posters, displays and hands-on presentations for visitors to grill them on their experimental procedures and scientific outcomes. They had their answers ready and showed such enthusiasm for their original work, all completed with virtually no teacher help (or interference).

It's a no brainer, we all behave better when we're doing what we enjoy, what deeply engages us, and matters to us personally. One day, we'll work like that in every classroom, everyday.

Comments welcomed.

Stef