Happy Days in Random Chatter 10

[mic0]

That sounds so fun! Please post at least your picture after this.

[Portia]

Goodreads stalkers are the strangest stalkers.

[Violet]

So many comparisons and so many things that aren't really comparable are going into this decision. Do I want to end up in Austin or Chicago? I don't know. Basically, I thought I had made my decision and then I realized I hadn't.

[Emiliana]

People annoy me today.

[Imogen]

So many comparisons and so many things that aren't really comparable are going into this decision. Do I want to end up in Austin or Chicago? I don't know. Basically, I thought I had made my decision and then I realized I hadn't.

AUSTIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Marduk]

Austin is a really cool city. It is on my short list of places I'm interested in going to school.

[UffishThought]

Time for a teaching whine!

I've got one class period that is trying to kill me. 1/3 showoffs, 1/3 enablers, and the last 1/3 just wait the period out. About half the time when I ask students to knock something off and do some work, they wait until my back is turned to get right back to what they were doing. The other half the time, they act as if I haven't spoken and continue. Today we got some mild sexual harassment (quickly ended with the threat of getting the principal involved), lots and lots of ignoring me and screwing their groups over in the group project, and one kid who decided he was done with class with about 15 minutes to go, so he walked off and didn't respond when I asked him to come back.

Normally, I prefer to clean up my own messes, but if they're ignoring me, there's not much I can do. Maybe it's time to finally figure out how the phones work so I can send them to the principal. Or call their mothers. Blarg.

I wish the teacher I was subbing for had had better classroom management, but it's not her strong point, plus pregnancy brain, plus the fact that she knows she's not coming back made it so she let pretty much anything slide. And now they're used to doing whatever they want, which makes my job harder.

At least I have 20+ hours of grading to do before Monday. That will comfort me.

[mic0]

Another vote for Austin over Chicago. Because we can totally decide that for you, right?

[Whistler]

At least I have 20+ hours of grading to do before Monday. That will comfort me.

you'll show them!!

[Emiliana]

Time for a teaching whine!

I've got one class period that is trying to kill me. 1/3 showoffs, 1/3 enablers, and the last 1/3 just wait the period out. About half the time when I ask students to knock something off and do some work, they wait until my back is turned to get right back to what they were doing. The other half the time, they act as if I haven't spoken and continue. Today we got some mild sexual harassment (quickly ended with the threat of getting the principal involved), lots and lots of ignoring me and screwing their groups over in the group project, and one kid who decided he was done with class with about 15 minutes to go, so he walked off and didn't respond when I asked him to come back.

Normally, I prefer to clean up my own messes, but if they're ignoring me, there's not much I can do. Maybe it's time to finally figure out how the phones work so I can send them to the principal. Or call their mothers. Blarg.

I wish the teacher I was subbing for had had better classroom management, but it's not her strong point, plus pregnancy brain, plus the fact that she knows she's not coming back made it so she let pretty much anything slide. And now they're used to doing whatever they want, which makes my job harder.

At least I have 20+ hours of grading to do before Monday. That will comfort me.

That's rough. Taking over for another teacher so close to the end of the year...the kids are bound to be knuckleheads about it, and it sounds like you have a particularly knuckleheaded group right there.

[Indefinite Integral]

Time for a teaching whine!

I've got one class period that is trying to kill me. 1/3 showoffs, 1/3 enablers, and the last 1/3 just wait the period out. About half the time when I ask students to knock something off and do some work, they wait until my back is turned to get right back to what they were doing. The other half the time, they act as if I haven't spoken and continue. Today we got some mild sexual harassment (quickly ended with the threat of getting the principal involved), lots and lots of ignoring me and screwing their groups over in the group project, and one kid who decided he was done with class with about 15 minutes to go, so he walked off and didn't respond when I asked him to come back.

Normally, I prefer to clean up my own messes, but if they're ignoring me, there's not much I can do. Maybe it's time to finally figure out how the phones work so I can send them to the principal. Or call their mothers. Blarg.

I wish the teacher I was subbing for had had better classroom management, but it's not her strong point, plus pregnancy brain, plus the fact that she knows she's not coming back made it so she let pretty much anything slide. And now they're used to doing whatever they want, which makes my job harder.

At least I have 20+ hours of grading to do before Monday. That will comfort me.

Ugh...I had a class like that when I took over mid-year. One of the classes I got was from a teacher who is very lax (he's the basketball coach and tells stories and lets kids goof around all the time). I would say go ahead and talk to an administrator, at least let them know what is going on so they have a heads up, sometimes they can even give you good ideas of how to deal with issues in-class. If not, then when you have to call in the administration you've already built up rapport with the admins.

If you've got a long enough run with these kids, give them a seating chart and be firm. It won't solve all of your problems, and honestly, I just waited anxiously for the end of the term. However, I think taking some class time now to deal with management issues is better than letting them go hoping they will wane/disappear on their own (they won't).

Oh, you could email the parents too (I've done that, I prefer it to phone calls). For some parents it will help, others it might not make a difference. (One trouble student I had, the parent just said "Oh, he's just like that. Some teachers like it, other's don't." THANKS. That helps so much.)

Also, that kid who walked off, I would mark him absent for the day (at least in my district, that means he will have to make up the unexcused absence in an attendance remediation class - and pay $5 to do it)

Now that I'm done with my unsolicited advice, I'll say I'm sorry, that sucks.

[UffishThought]

That's rough. Taking over for another teacher so close to the end of the year...the kids are bound to be knuckleheads about it, and it sounds like you have a particularly knuckleheaded group right there.

It sounds like at this school, the kids can sign up by teacher and period, so it's easy to get together with all their friends and take the same class. Which is undoubtedly what happened here.

[UffishThought]

And I.I, I love unsolicited advice on stuff like this! Thanks.

[Indefinite Integral]

And I.I, I love unsolicited advice on stuff like this! Thanks.

You're welcome!

One more piece of unsolicited advice, if there is a specific student that is really causing trouble you should document whenever you have issues with him/her - write down the day and what happened. That way if you have to take action you already have a whole list of offenses ready to go. It gives you more security if parents get angry at you for disciplining their child (which unfortunately does happen).

[TheBlackSheep]

It's always good to have more job offers than you can accept.

[wryness]

Maybe it's time to finally figure out how the phones work so I can send them to the principal. Or call their mothers. Blarg.

If you've got a long enough run with these kids, give them a seating chart and be firm.

I wish I was amazing at classroom management, but I'm not. But I've definitely seen what a seating chart can do. Even if you already have one, changing the seating chart is a nice tangible signal to students that something will be different in the class from now on. Depending on their age and personalities, I think some students respond much better to visual/physical cues than to aural ones. (Sometimes "Bobby, you just lost five points" doesn't work.) Recently I changed the seating chart for one of my classes and gave them a little heart-to-heart about being more on-task. The talk is already starting to wear off (partially since I think my management has probably gotten more lax again), but it worked pretty well for a while. Being consistent is probably the toughest but most important thing with classroom management.

Oh, you could email the parents too (I've done that, I prefer it to phone calls).

I have had a hard time making time for this so far this year, but it really does help in many cases.

Like I.I., I have had some problem with students walking out early, and we usually get administrative support for marking them as a "sluff." I had one student leave class 5 minutes early, and so he got to choose between having a "sluff" and doing after-school custodial work.

[Portia]

I almost signed a help desk request ticket at work "Portia." Haha.

[Emiliana]

And I.I, I love unsolicited advice on stuff like this! Thanks.

You're welcome!

One more piece of unsolicited advice, if there is a specific student that is really causing trouble you should document whenever you have issues with him/her - write down the day and what happened. That way if you have to take action you already have a whole list of offenses ready to go. It gives you more security if parents get angry at you for disciplining their child (which unfortunately does happen).

Since you like unsolicited advice....
My strategy for seating charts: Start with the two loudest class clowns. Put them in the two back corners. Then pick the next two most obnoxious people, and put them in the front two corners. Then fill up the rest of the front rows with the slackers, ESL kids, and kids who have trouble paying attention. I'm in a racially diverse school (about 1/3 white, 1/3 black, 1/3 Hispanic) and also try to keep kids separated from too many kids of their own ethnicity. Then I double-check that I haven't sat any two flirts, athletes, or theater kids next to each other. If you don't know the kids well enough to do this, see if you can find another teacher to help you (for example, did a lot of them have the same English teacher last year? Do most of them have the same history teacher this year?).

I can't believe students are allowed to sign up by class period! High schoolers do not have the maturity level for that! I actually had an administrator intervene on my behalf and split up a group of friends/frienemies that all ended up in the same class period, because it is very difficult for anyone to get anything done with a situation like that...

[Violet]

As a relatively recent high-schooler, I may be biased, but signing up by class period was the only way I got everything I wanted from my school. I still had to fight to be let into some class periods (full classes that people later transferred out of), but the one year the school registered for me I went back to the school, showed my counselor that my schedule really was possible ("Violet, why are you taking so many hard classes? You don't need to do that."), and updated it manually in his computer. Admittedly, my counselor really didn't know what to do with me (I had to show him how to write letters of recommendation on the commonapp), but registering for my own classes saved me so much time and effort. It also probably saved the counselors time and effort, which is why they went to individual registering in the first place.

[Emiliana]

As a relatively recent high-schooler, I may be biased, but signing up by class period was the only way I got everything I wanted from my school. I still had to fight to be let into some class periods (full classes that people later transferred out of), but the one year the school registered for me I went back to the school, showed my counselor that my schedule really was possible ("Violet, why are you taking so many hard classes? You don't need to do that."), and updated it manually in his computer. Admittedly, my counselor really didn't know what to do with me (I had to show him how to write letters of recommendation on the commonapp), but registering for my own classes saved me so much time and effort. It also probably saved the counselors time and effort, which is why they went to individual registering in the first place.

*You* might have been mature enough to handle it, but I guarantee 90% of high school students aren't.