Trying to reassure a first year teacher tonight… don’t want her to burn out. She’s good. And she’s struggling. Here’s what I told her…
“I was 22, barely older than my juniors. And they simply wouldn’t listen. I was ranting to my dad about how I had tried every punishment I could think of and nothing was working. And he said to me, so matter of factly, ‘have you tried rewarding them for good behavior instead?’ So I started ‘star of the week,’ and picked someone for some reason every week no matter how much a stretch. It wasn’t the greatest, but it was something. What I’ve learned over the years is that you get further for rewarding them far more than they deserve. I have scratch off tickets I throw out like candy… ‘skip a minor assessment,’ ‘drop a low grade,’ ‘get a snack,’ ‘get a positive phone call or email home…’ it costs me almost nothing and it gets me out of grading sometimes. 😉”
I’ve learned so much more from my “pain in the ass” students than I have from the “good kids.” In fact, some of the best relationships I’ve fostered were with kids who hated me and who I wanted to strangle.
And there is ALWAYS a reason… behavior is communication. Find out the reason and you can probably solve the classroom management problem.
And always use humor. Always.
I hope that she doesn’t give up. This isn’t a profession for the weak or faint of heart. You’ve gotta love them even when you don’t. But I think that’s why I have excelled at this work.
The other day, one of my students told me that she was getting tired of defending me to the haters. 😂😂😂 I told her not to worry… they can hate me now, but they will appreciate me later.
