How is your year going so far my profe friend? Mine has been a good rollercoaster ride to say the least, and I am making the best of it!
I am going to open up and say that I don’t consider myself anywhere near an expert in classroom management though I have been blessed with engaged and well mannered students over the years.
Two of my best strengths is building student relationships & student buy-in.
I wholeheartedly believe this is actually why over the years I haven’t had any major fires to put out in my Spanish classroom and teaching has been a joy for the most part.
That is, until this year. Wait for it my friend. I am about to spill some tea, and you know me, I am going to keep it real.
Now, challenging student behavior is not something new to me. In fact, my first years teaching trained me well as I taught at one of the most challenging middle schools in my city.
So, what made me write a reflective post on classroom management?
For the sake of time, here is what happened in a nutshell:
- I meet my new Spanish 2 class with 28 students.
- They are a truly a dream come true while I teach procedures & Spanish.
- Honeymoon phase is over at about week 3 and I start noticing some small misbehaviors.
- One student can’t seem to stay on his seat.
- That same student wants to play class clown and I redirect politely.
- Two students join the party over the next couple of days and now I find myself stopping class to redirect way more times than I am comfortable admitting.
- I make phone calls and behavior changes for a week, then it goes back to the same.
At this point, I AM TIRED!!! As if teaching wasn’t hard enough dealing with all other tasks, preparing lessons, and everything else going on, some students have the nerve to push buttons. I DON’T THINK SO!
But remember, we aren’t supposed to take this personal, right? LOL! Seriously!?
So, what did I do to restore the peaceful learning environment in my classroom?
I am about to share with you what I have done to get my class (really, only three students out of that one class because everyone else is great) back in track.
While everyone’s situation is different, I am certain you will find something that can help you as well if you are dealing with a challenging group of teens.
It is SOOO hard, but we must remain calm
This is old school, but yet a powerful strategy.
We cannot allow challenging pupils to get a reaction out of us because that will only escalate the situation.
We must avoid getting into a power struggle with the learner in the middle of class and we must be assertive during these moments.
And yes, GET MAD but don’t show it! Use that emotion to get your ducks in a row! Don’t threaten, simply take action and act on your classroom management plan.
Remember, we must protect the learning environment and of course, our mental wellbeing.
Also, remember que el que se enoja pierde.
What about the relationship with the student?
Once a student is redirected several times, and once a one on one conversation has occurred to explain how the certain behavior interferes with everyone else’s learning experience, it becomes evident that the student:
- Isn’t buying what we are selling
- Lacks respect for that specific teacher
- May be crying out for attention from home
Don’t feel bad, you must know that this student behaves for other teachers…so why are they not behaving for you?
I put a lot of thought into my day to day planning, so reminding myself of this reality stung a little bit.
I had to make some changes because I am the adult…I had to remind myself of the power of assertiveness.
Don't Wait One More Second to Call Home
I am not going to lie, calling home has never been my cup of tea. We must make the call and document everything! Who has the time for that?
Actually, during these persistent situations, we cannot afford to not do these phone calls.
My first years of teaching, calling parents was so intimidating because I am such a non confrontational being, but what helped me get out of that mindset was to prepare my script before I called, and over time, I got a lot better at it.
The phone call is one of our first and most powerful lines of defense when preserving an effective and safe learning environment.
I also used to feel so bad for getting my learners in trouble when I was a brand new teacher, now I really don’t care. For anyone who disrupts the learning of others and disturbs my mental peace, there will be consequences, and I will not feel bad about it. This is part of being firm.
Change of Sitting Arrangement for the Entire Class
Back in the day, I also disliked making changes in the classroom just because of two or three students, such as changing seating arrangements strategically. With years of experience, I don’t feel that way anymore.
If I want my learners to take me and my class seriously, I can’t put off these changes. Changing seats sends a message and brings about a change for everyone. It is a great thing to do as you are getting ready to push the RESET button on your class.
If nothing is done, we are sending the message that it is okay to act a certain way. Also, if there is lack consistency and we allow certain behaviors on some occasions, students will be willing to take a chance on such behaviors.
We must channel firmness, consistency, and assertiveness. To some human beings, this comes easier than for others. For me, I’ve had to work on it over the years.
Share Your Classroom Management Plan with Learners & Follow Through
One thing that helped me become more assertive with my class these last couple of weeks was having a behavior contract. Hardly anyone talks about these anymore. Hence, the title of this blog posts.
I first learned about behavior contracts at classroom management class in college back in 2005. I actually used them in the past when I was teaching at the middle school during my first years.
You see, we normally have rules in our classrooms and we address these at the beginning of the school year, but do we talk about the possible consequences? Not the consequences from the school, I am referring to YOUR own set of consequences? What is your classroom management plan?
I have always known what my classroom management plan was, but I haven’t had a need to discuss it in the last six years as usually a simple phone call corrects behaviors at my school (I know, I am blessed), but this year, the plan was needed, and a tone of seriousness needed to be added.
So, what did I do after changing sitting arrangements, I distributed the management plan A.K.A behavior contract to all learners and I presented it with all seriousness. I also sent it home for parents to reference and sign.
With this plan, I sent a message specifically to my three students stirring the pot that I had a plan in place and that I am ready to act.
Document! Document! Document!
It is not enough to have a plan, one must be ready to follow through it and all along we should be documenting because when we are ready to do a referral or a more extreme consequence, the data will be there to speak for itself.
The data will scream that we provided so many chances for the student to rectify…and here we are.
Teach Your Heart Out to this Class
As for my class, I’ve had the most peaceful two weeks since the contract. I am not the teacher I truly am, the engaging and playful teacher is gone for the time being, maybe she will come back when they are all ready, but until then, I keep on teaching with a firm face.
After all, my job is teach language. For these types of classes, we must not let our guard down. Lessons need to be ready to go and our grading needs to be done as soon as humanly possible.
Our jobs are already challenging enough on its own to allow students come and push our buttons.
We teach with love my friends, we build relationships, and we give our all during our contracted ours.
This is what we are not going to do, we aren’t going to allow anyone to take away our joy and most importantly, we aren’t going to allow for a few learners to ruin the learning experience for others.
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