I was feeling even more frustrated than usual when I sent my 4th period class to lunch. Despite my commitment to abiding by the never speak ill of others precept, I complained bitterly to my lunch buddies. "I hate my 4th period class! They are total a-holes!" Of course I eagerly shared the evidence for my proclamations:
the kid who copied and pasted an entire list of rhyming words, after being specifically instructed not to, and then lied about it (when I bluffed and told him I could look at the HTML code on his response to see where it came from, he gave it up immediately)
the boys who were crashing their tables into each other and throwing highlighters
the kid who wrote Ur dad on every single sensory detail anchor chart (this because last week I expressly forbade him from using the expression your mom)
the kids who had completed less than half of their classwork when it was time for lunch because they "forgot"
and the kid who posted tree, pee, tea, and virginity for his rhyming words.
And my teacher friends were sympathetic; they, too are struggling to tame this new group of sixth graders. Deep down, though, I felt like I had to flip the script on this class, and I needed to do it sooner, rather than later. But when they came charging back into the room after lunch, I stopped them crossly, and directed them to line up outside the door.
Rather than scold them into a compliant line, which Im sure they expected, I invited them to come back in, one at a time, and as each entered I held out my hand, and when they shook it, I clapped my left hand over theirs and made eye contact. I welcomed them back by name and asked if they were ready to learn and do their best. Every one assured me that they were, and I smiled and told them how glad I was to hear it.
And although it was far from a perfect class, it was much better, and I didn't hate them any more.
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