For all those who live vicariously through my blog (cough, cough my dad) I apologize for my blogging absence. I have wanted to write a few times, but I haven't had super funny stories/trying to think, let alone write, in complete sentences at the end of the day has been a challenge. I have a couple particular insight from this first month. Please enjoy.
Discipline
I have high expectations for myself and that translates to high expectations for my class. Unfortunately not everyone has the same ambitious spirit as I do (shocking!) so there are days when what I want out of my students is met with resistance. It is my job to assert my authority, but ultimately my goal is for my students to want to strive for excellence. You might be thinking this goal is a little to idealistic, but I invite you into my thought process. I could force kids to do what I want because I'm the teacher...problem is this takes so much emotional and mental energy. Instead I think the answer lies in modeling my classroom after the ultimate authority. I know God may not seem like the typical guide for classroom management, but if you think about it, God has standards for conduct, but He is not going to force anyone into a relationship with Him. Similarly, I need standards, but I will not constantly fight with a student to do what I ask. Furthermore, while God isn't going to force anything, He also isn't going to let a person's denial of Him go without consequences. Likewise I cannot let a student get by with completely ignoring my expectations. So what does this look like practically? Well, I have a particular student who when asked to get out his book and pencil responds like I just asked him to find the solution for world peace. There isn't much he won't get worked up about. In my experience, albeit limited, kids who constantly have discipline issues have a much bigger story under their defiant facade. So when I feel a struggle coming on I give him a chance to make up his mind with some gentle prompting in the right direction. If nothing improves, I firmly remind him of my expectations and consequences. Finally, like any good parent, heavenly or otherwise, I follow through. This particular student has seen me very intense and serious about my expectations as well as encouraging and compassionate. I honestly feel like this freaks him out more than yelling ever would. There's something about being perfectly loved and disciplined at the same time that causes us to take our actions more seriously, and at the end of the day, my hope is that students are thinking about their actions rather than just doing or not doing something because I said so. I make it sound like I am God in teacher form, when in reality I have failed more often than not at Godly discipline in this first month of teaching. However, it is encouraging to think that if God's discipline can work for the world, surely it can be highly effective in the classroom.
Motivation
Motivating students is one of the top struggles for teacher today. Kids are not pushed at home to achieve excellence and with mediocrity being the model many of them witness, why should they dream big. Well I may have the secret to motivating kids...comfortable seating. I have a two person couch and two chairs in the back of my room. During a review game a couple weeks ago, winners won the right to sit in the chairs for a couple class periods. You honestly would think these chairs have special powers because of the way they draw kids to them. One of the chairs is particularly comfy and I have had a couple high dollar offers to purchase it (high dollar for a H.S. student). I want to say to theses offers, "Really, really you do know it's just a chair, right?!?!" Besides the magical seating, there are also a couple puzzles of Mexico on the table in the middle of the seating. These puzzles have been taken apart and put together again I don't even know how many times. Students have them memorized, but they still want to do them. Who knew some seating and puzzles of Mexico would play such a large role in my student motivation plan.
I hope this post has satisfied your update appetite. I have a few more thoughts, but those complete sentences seem to be more and more difficult to formulate right now, so I'm off to bed with a commitment to blog in a more timely manner in the future. Adios!
