Tough decisions happen everyday. My first year, my fifth period biology class was my biggest challenge to manage. Plenty of times the boys in the class tried to run my class resulting in me giving them "the business." Giving a student "the business" manifests as a short speech where I look the student in the eye at close proximity and let them know what they are doing wrong and how they can fix it. Students always have a choice, they either fix their behavior or I will notify parents or school administrators. I'll usually use parents first. I try to use the school administration as a last resort. On a test day, which I maintain as a sacred environment in my class, students were being disruptive and very quickly, too quickly, I pulled students into the hall and gave them the business. This happened later in the year, students knew what to expect from me--at this point they were familiar with me and my expectations. I think how fast I escalated the situation took them off guard. The situation got tense very quickly and I saw that all the trust that I built over the last few months I eroded in the span of minutes. Confidence lost is often hard to get back. It took time to rebuild students confidence in me. The students whom I focused on that day slowly came around to my side again, and I think we both knew that we should have acted better in the heat of the moment. There were no apologies on either side, but there was an unspoken acknowledgment of the situation and that we both needed to be better. I am in the position of having to deal with boys who think they are "grown" everyday. There is a time to meet that energy with fire, with silence, with a look, or with a smile. When I gave the fifth period student the business I didn't have many tools in the toolbox. I mashed down on the gas pedal. I have more days in the classroom at this point and my personality in the classroom has become more nuanced. Students know just by my posture or tone of voice whether or not I am tired of playing and disruption. I am faced with the same decision of how to handle discipline everyday. I work to make choices that maintain my class culture, class confidence in me, and putting students in a place where they can continue to succeed even if they do pose a disciplinary issue on a daily basis. |