This week I have begun student teaching, and am slowly getting to know my students better. In my World History classes the students have been watching a movie for the past few days. The movie directly relates to what the class is learning and has even won several awards...you would think it would hold the attention of the students. Yesterday, in one of my classes, the students were very vocal during the movie; discussing it and coming up with dialogue when there wasn't any. Half of the class was participating this way, and the other half was getting upset that the students were being loud and disrupting their viewing experience. Now one student in particular was getting very frustrated, we'll call her J. Yesterday, J kept looking down at her lap during the movie. Now...I'm certain that most, if not all of us would consider this a sign that maybe she was texting during class. I decided to let it go yesterday and figured I would sit in front of her today to curb the behavior. Couldn't be more wrong!
Before class started, my co-teacher made an announcement about movie etiquette and how it is important to keep quiet so as to understand the more profound aspects of the movie. This made those who were complaining about noise, very happy, including J. Once the movie started, I noticed that she kept looking at her lap again. I walked up to the wall and stood behind her desk for a bit, and on my way back to the front, told her to put her phone away. She did so quietly without any problems. Not five minutes later, while I was sitting in front of her, she was back to looking down at her desk again. I asked her if she had her phone out, to which she responded no. Come on J, I wasn't born yesterday! A minute later, she put the phone that she "was not" using back into her purse for the second time, and then began to work on other homework. At this point, I decided not to engage her and disrupt the rest of the class. I decided I'd rather have her put her phone away and work on homework, than be looking down every 2 minutes during the movie.
I spoke with my co-teacher, and apparently he has experienced the same problems with her, and chooses his battles with her. This is a nice little conflict that I will have to figure out how to deal with as semester continues. J is going to have to learn that I am not going to put up with attitude, and that she is not as tricky as she thinks she is...
-PSTC
Thanks for posting! My supervisor talked to me today about walking the line between being a disciplinarian and 'going along to get along'. I guess we're all in for along process of figuring out which side of the line we will gravitate towards.
ReplyDeleteAlso, do kids really think we don't see what they're doing? It seems hard to believe how much they think they're getting away with.