Hello friends, family, and strangers (I flatter myself)! I am a recently-graduated girl finding my way in the "real world" (apparently, I've been floating around the fake world for the past two decades). Many of my friends' "real world"s consist of cubicles, nine-to-fives, marriage, babies, and other such grown-up things. My real world looks a little different. Yes, I still get up and go to work every morning, same as they do. But instead of battling fax machines, computer programs, disgruntled spouses and dirty diapers, I arm myself against a legion of 14-year-old boys. Well, 83 of them to be exact. You see, I teach 8th-grade boys' Science in an inner-city, high-poverty school. What it is not: glamorous, prestigious, boring. What it is: humorous, heartbreaking, and the most challenging thing I will ever do.

The stories I tell and the people I describe are real; you can't make this stuff up. If you are new to my blog, I hope you'll start at the beginning and fall in love with its characters, just as I have.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Classroom Management Woes

How do you teach the difference between physical and chemical changes when there is an all-out paper ball WAR going on in front of you?

This is the issue I dealt with today. Classic case senario: whenever the teacher turns her back to the class to write on the board, paper goes flying. Then, when the teacher turns around to see what all the laughter is about, the floor is littered, but the air is clear and no one is guilty.

After about round 3 of this (not so) amusing game, I am frustrated and no one knows what a physical change is. I briefly consider physically changing their bone structure to more clearly illustrate my point. Instead, I scrawl this sentence on the board:

Throwing paper balls wastes class time, my time, my peers' time, my teacher's time, and trees.


I then proceed to count all the paper balls on the floor. "Twenty-seven. So you will all write this sentence 27 times and turn
it in for a quiz grade." After a whole lot of grumbling and wasted time, I collect the sentences and continue with the lesson. Believe it or not, ten minutes later another paper ball goes flying. This time, the target LEAPS out of his desk to punish the perpetrator. Around the classroom they go, paying no mind to the fact that I am standing in front of a powerpoint presentation trying to EDUCATE. As they lap the lab tables, I see them getting closer and closer to me until WHAM, Rosamuel pushes Andre straight into me, sending me flying into the projector cart.

The class falls silent. I slowly straighten back up, wincing in pain, fury in my eyes.

"OUT!!! OUT OF MY CLASSROOM!!!"

Fast-forward to the bell. Apparently, word of the incident has spread. Just as my classes are about to transition, the two guilty parties show up at my door, sheepishly. Unfortunately for them, they are immediately hemmed in by about five guys--Will, Norman, and Rashee block the door from the hall and DJ and DeAngelo approach from the front.

"You hurt Ms. M!?? Andre, Ro, you finna get BOOMED. We finna STEAL you. YOU HURT HER!!"

I can't see much over the cluster of boys, but I do see Rosamuel and Andre get forced to the floor and get mildly abused. I quickly look away and began straightening desks.

"Ms. M? You jus' gonna let them bully them like that?" Chris asks.

"Who's bullying whom? I guess I missed it." I turn my back to hide my smirk.
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1 comment:

  1. ErNovember 13, 2009 at 9:44 PM

    HAHAHAHA... i love your writing. you're doing great! keep it up!! and also, I am a fan of the sentences for a quiz grade. For the third (fourth? maybe?) time this week my class is writing-- "I will not talk without permission" 35 times for homework. One of my students has 1000 lines (yes, 1000) due to me on Monday. The lines include:

    "I can behave like a student." 200x
    "When Ms. Smith asks me to not talk, I will obey right away." 200x
    "I can follow directions the first time." 200x

    He has been suspended twice in the last week--so he has had plenty of time to write. And, I wanted to be sure that he didn't have time for fun of any kind while he was home.

    Anyways---great job!! You're awesome!!

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