The last few days of my senior elective has led me to recognize the value of every year, with a new group of students, you must work to create a classroom environment that values the voices of all and works to engage all students to recognize the values of listening and respect for each other. At the beginning of the year, when I looked at my classroom roster, I recognized many of the names of students that I have had in the past and have had a relationship with. I thought that as they entered my class this fall, they would not have forgotten my values and the classroom values that we had in our courses last year. Today in class, I had a moment when I realized that they were not listening to each other and were disrespecting each other's ideas. While I value and appreciate the dialogue and discussion that takes place in this course, it had quickly turned to debate and they were beginning to attack each other instead of discussing each other's ideas. I stopped the class, addressed my concerns, and then ended class early.
The reason I include this event in my response this week is because while completing the readings on Friday night, I realized that I failed in class today. I realized that I made some mistakes and some assumptions at the beginning of the year and did not work as hard to establish the caring classroom climate with my seniors that we had last year as juniors. There was a passage in the "Student Voice" chapter that forced me to question my decisions over the last few weeks. In the article, Evans presents his ideas about management and shares that, "... just because we live in what many refer to as the greatest democracy in the world, it does not mean we are born with the skills required to be active and engaged participants," (p. 174). This forced me to ask if I just assumed that my students would remember the "skills" they learned last year and remember the expectations we had established over the course of a year together. Also, in looking at the articles this week, I was inspired by the "mindful practices" that Explorer Elementary includes in its school culture. A part that spoke to me was, "Our challenge to ourselves was to draw out the implicit habits of mind that we valued in our daily practice..." I forgot to explicitly work with my seniors on making sure they knew the habits that would make for a positive classroom culture, and I do not think I will ever forget to do it again. Even if I want to spend more time reading and discussing and thinking about these challenging topics, I will not forget to spend time building this culture.
Why do these things always happen when Im sick? Sorry I just wanted to point that out. However I dont think that , and this is strictly my opinion, that the traditional way of restricting a class would not be actually valued in the eyes of the seniors mostly because we dont actually like anything traditional. Though i can see what you are trying to say, we need to grow up and I think all of us know this but will not admit it. We respect each other to a point yet if there is no one to make sure we stay at that point we'd be at each others necks before we know it just like friday. Though it is good to argue it is also better to express an opinion, if you have an opinion that you would like to share because you want other people to know thats a good thing because you are broadening other peoples views on the subject. but the opposite can happen also, and correct me if im wrong, but this is probably what happened on Friday. Some wanted to only express a narrow view of the subject and wanted to take a stand when that view was attacked or question. There are many ways to counter this as a teacher, normally you would stop the class, but the challenge is really in the student because they have to decide whether or not to broaden their view.
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By stopping the class and addressing the negative, intolerant behavior immediately, you set an example for desired values. By taking time to reflect on what happened, your own role in it, and what steps to take to support growth from it, you have set another example. By these actions, one can see that you are a thoughtful teacher, and you are connected to your students on a level they need, at this time in their lives. ¡Andale!
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