Over the last few months I’ve come from toying with the idea of becoming a High School teacher to more or less settling on it as my chosen vocation. Like many aspiring educators, my biggest worry is “Will I be able to keep my class under control?” I’d have no problem with being strict if the situation called for it but I strongly feel that a dictatorial, authoritarian manner is far from conducive to the creation of an effective learning environment. My biggest worry is getting into a nose to nose shouting match with a pupil who simply refuses to leave the class.
Obviously I would prefer it if any confrontations I find myself in could be defused before then but, having not undergone any formal teacher training, I’m completely ignorant of the techniques used to facilitate this.
Are there any teachers out there willing to share disciplinary tips/classroom horror stories to educate a would-be colleague?
I understand completely your concern. I had the same concern when I was studying to be a teacher. I took all the college courses, did all the real life classroom participations, but when I got to the student teaching, I found that I did have a problem with classroom control and discipline. Surprisingly all of the classroom participations I had been were nothing like what I had experience during my student teaching.
I was assigned to a 5th grade classroom (11 yr old students). They were ruthless, uncontrollable, awful little demons and I loathed every single day I had to go in and deal with the little SOB’s.
Anyways, the biggest problem I had was getting the students to respect me. I never earned their respect and the teacher-mentor I was assigned to was unable (or unwilling) to give me the help I needed to earn their respect. Her answer to me when I asked for help was, “I don’t know. You will have to figure it out on your own.” Well, I never did figure it out while I was there, no thanks to her (But that was a totally different issue).
This was 10 years ago. I ended up quitting the student teaching and became a computer tech instead (Computers have a problem, just format and reinstall. Problem solved! Computer behaives great now. )
Looking back on it now that I’m older and wiser, I would say that the reason I had respect problems was that I was never consistent with the kids in my actions and expectations. I never really followed through on any consequences and the kids picked up on my uncertainty. The funny thing is that eventhough the kids I dealt with were absolutely awful little monsters, they didn’t even know they were doing it.
My advice to you is to be consistent with your prosepctive students, both in your actions and your expectations. Don’t let them smell even one tiny bit of fear or uncertainty in you or else they will eat you up and spit you out like a bad piece of broccoli. I firmly believe that teaching is an art. It’s more than just knowing the material. You have to be confident in your knowledge, but also in your ability to manage and communicate to kids in a confident yet respectful manner. Becoming a parent of 4 children has taught me that.
Mrs. Kunilou is only 5’ 4" and teaches special ed, but she had a remarkable lack of trouble when she was teaching high-school age kids.
Part of the reason was her ability to be kind and approachable, while making sure the students understood she would tolerate no crap.
When she started teaching, Asian-American teachers were still unusual in this neck of the woods, and one of her students asked her if she knew martial arts.
“Only enough to kill you,” she replied. Subtle little things like that helped her develop proper teacher-student relationships.
Teaching is certainly a vocation and completely different from a 9-5 office job.
Firstly I would strongly recommend that you do get some training, since educating a class of pupils is not a skill one acquires in normal life.
You certainly don’t want to find yourself in a shouting match. Consider what led to that situation, and why you have lost your temper.
If you need to tell a pupil to leave the room, what is your School’s policy on supervising that child?
What back-up does your School have if a pupil is so disruptive?
As you see, I think it’s vital to know at what level you’re going to teach at, in what neighbourhood and with what resources.
I teach in a private School in the UK. We have superb facilities, a clear disciplinary code and well-informed parents. There is an entrance exam and the Head can expel pupils who break School rules.
My sister teaches in a UK State School. They get Government grants totalling about 1/3 of what we get. Class sizes are larger, and there is an appeal procedure against expulsion.
My father used to teach in a State School in a poor (= economically-deprived) area. They had fewer facilities and larger class sizes again. Many of the pupils had English as a second language and received welfare. (I intend no disrespect, but it is harder at School for such pupils, e.g. not having a quiet, well-lit space to do homework).
When I was at School, one teacher said “Stop that or I will get cross.” After careful consideration, we decided we would like to see how cross looked. That’s all the teacher did when we messed about - get angry. No rules, no consequences.
On the other hand, a teacher who explains the rules (e.g. no shouting out, always put your hand up, respect other pupils, pay attention) and the rewards / punishments clearly, and **who sticks to them ** will earn respect.
A lot of what you learn in teacher-training is how to maintain control of classes. The rest is experience.
I have a reputation, hard-earned, of teaching the toughestest class on campus. After 18 years, I don’t have discipline problems, because the students know coming in that they will be a grease-spot if they cross the line. That doesn’t do you any good as a potential newbie, of course, but it does tell you that things will get better with experience.
I was all over the place with discipline when I started out. In retrospect, I worried about the wrong things, and tried to micro-manage my classes. Things got a lot better when I started carrying a card around in my shirt pocket. Whenever I felt myself starting to lose control, I’d take it out and read it. It said: Lighten up - you’re being an asshole!
Gotta disagree with you there. Most of what the student teachers (meaning still pre-service as well as those placed in a classroom prior to graduation) I’ve worked with learn very little about classroom management. And that’s what it really is. Not control, management. If you manage your classroom effectively you won’t need to CONTROL the kids. There are lots of tricks you can use to do that. But, if you want a crash course in classroom management, as well as a gut check on whether you really want to teach, start substituting. If you can be a substitute teacher for a year or so, and still like it, you can teach anybody.
I was a substitute for 2 years while I worked on my teacher certification (I already had a degree in social work). I worked at all grade levels, K-12, which helped me decide that although my previous work had been with high school kids, I really enjoyed the younger ones. I learned to be very tough, very fast but teachers asked for me repeatedly and the kids seemed to like me too.
Anyway, give you could give that a shot and see what happens.
My mother has taught middle-school and high-school special ed for the last 20 years. One of the pieces of advise she gave my sister when she embarked on her teaching career:
“The first day of class, be the meanest you possibly can. The first time some kid tests you, give them the best beatdown (not literally, of course) that you can. It’s easier to give a first impression as a hard meanie and lighten up later then it is to be nice at first and get more strict later”
Of course, special ed is a different animal then normal teaching, but I’m sure the principle still holds to some degree.
I’m both interested in this thread & am able to give a smidge of advice because I just (literally - three days ago) started my student teaching experience with 7th graders (English is my content area).
Today I handled most of the teaching for my 7th & 8th period classes (that is, I followed my cooperating teacher’s lesson plan) & I found that with the chatting problem, I got the best response when I told them to quiet down & that I’d stop until they stopped & I followed through. I didn’t have any big defiance problems - just a girl who was very reluctant to read aloud. I coxed her, then asked firmly. When she assented, I praised her. Whether that was the right thing to do, I honestly don’t know.
My cooperating teacher said that I handled the kids pretty well, but she advised that sometimes (particularly with the girls in one class) I shouldn’t jump on it if I hear a little chatting - I don’t want them to get to actively disliking me, as that’d make my life miserable.
Let’s just say that I’m not sure what to think about that.
Be a little wary of substituting: you can HATE subbing and still enjoy teaching, as subbing invilves all the bad stuff and none of the good. So don’t let a bad subbing experience alone turn you off teaching.
Classroom management is hell the first year and better after that. The biggest problem is that you have to find a style that works for you, and the only way to do that is trial and error. Consistiency is certainly key, but a lot of other stuff varies from person to person. It helps to have a strong personality. But have faith that you can learn to do it. It’s a year-long painful process, but if you spend time thinking about what you have done and the results you have gotten, and pay attention to what the people around you are doing, you will figure it out.
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