Year 8: Week 14 - Back To The Basics

It would seem logical that by December, classroom expectations would be firmly established and not need reinforcement. Teaching doesn’t work that way, and students don’t work that way. Creating a positive classroom community isn’t a building that is constructed in the first week of school that you and your students live in. It’s like a thing, um, that. Wow, I can’t come up with a metaphor, maybe because it’s Friday afternoon, or maybe because there really isn’t anything like this work.

Community is built up relationships. You need to get to know your kids, your kids need to get to know each other, and you need to let them get to know facets of your personality. All of this building happens through different lesson, and experiences. Relationships don’t develop in straight lines. Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better, and sometimes school years end on a sour note with some students.

Students grow up so much in the course of a school year, and understanding of seemingly basic things like, how to have a classroom conversations evolve through the school year as students grow. We teach to raise your hand when you want to be called on. However, some students aren’t as comfortable in the beginning of the year to participate, so they don’t really think about needing to work on this. As kids grow as learners their engagement and eagerness to participate may require that this basic lesson of hand raising will need to be reestablished. It seems ridiculous on the surface level, but there’s other stuff going on.

It’s easy to assume that when students are not consistent with what seems like basic classroom expectations they are being lazy, don’t care, or are being purposely disruptive. While all of those things may be true, I’ve rarely encountered this. I have found students appear to regress with classroom, it’s because they aren’t feeling included as a member of the community, and they don’t understand the power they have to contribute to the community and their individual importance to the school, to their peers and to their teachers.

Students are more powerful than they think. Teachers fear acknowledging their students’ power, but it’s there. Kids use this power all of the time, sometimes without realizing it. Not naming this, doesn’t make it go away, so talk about this power, teach about the responsibility that goes with it, because it’s not the teacher who makes the classroom community, it’s the students’ who have the power to make it happen.

So yes, in 8th grade band I had to remind them that when I stand on the podium, they should be quiet and my 3rd graders needed me to explain to them why when we stop a song, people shouldn’t tack on silly endings to the song. Sometimes it feels like a never ending battle, but it’s more like, SIGH wow, my metaphor back is empTY, it’s a process, it can feel annoying at times, but when you believe in the positive potential of students, this can be one of the most rewarding parts of teaching.