A recent substitute teaching assignment had me in a 6th grade science class. During my lunch break and before my afternoon classes I was in the Teacher's Workroom, which also doubles as their lunchroom/lounge. In striking up a conversation with one of the other teachers and an assistant they ask me who I am subbing for. When I tell them, they both share a look at each other and then the teacher says to me, "Good luck with that B5 class, they are horrible!". I just smile and say something along the lines of "Really..." which of course opens up the conversation to various anecdotes of how bad these kids are. I kept the smile on my face while I listened, but inside I am thinking "great, just great..." I had already figured out that with the students at this particular school, bringing out Senior Chief was just the thing. My limited experience as a substitute teacher had also taught me that expectations expressed were usually met. I decided that since I was warned that I was about to face potentially the worst behaved class ever that I might try a different tactic with these kids. The result was nothing short of amazing.
Minutes before the class was to begin, I opened the door and I stood in the doorway. Now as you all know, I am not an imposing figure by physical size. The first kid, a boy, walks up and without saying a thing tries to walk by me. I put my hand on the door frame and say "Excuse me", which stops him in his tracks, "I did not invite you into my classroom yet." This stunned him and other students that were walking up and watched this exchange. Now that I had his attention (as well as the others), I asked him if he was ready to work and was going to behave in my class. It took him a beat, but he finally verbally answered in the affirmative, at which point I gave him further directions so that he would be ready once class began and I invited him into the classroom. I repeated this process with every single student of this class. Once in class after I introduce myself and take attendance I proceed to fully explain what we are going to do and what my expectations were. I gave them a simple choice, to participate or not, with then understanding that like with all choices, there would be consequences for their choice. Regardless of their choice, the work that I was going over with them still had to be completed by the next class. Also, if they chose not to participate they were expected to sit quietly and not to disrupt our class or anyone else. The last consequence for not participating was that I would be letting their teacher know of their choice.
So, let's recap a bit. I instilled a bit of discipline before they even walked through the door. I communicated exactly what we were going to do, what was expected of them, and that they had a choice to participate or not. Results? Only one student chose not to participate, but complied with the behavior expectations fully. The other students were engaged, enthusiastically participated and truly understood the concepts being taught. The teacher's aide I had in the class with me could not believe these were the same kids. Now, this class was broken up by their lunch break. Before we walked out of the room, I once again gave them my expectations for their behavior in the hallways. No issues what-so-ever. When we came back from lunch, I stopped and stood in the doorway again. Before I could say anything, the first student in line politely asked if they may enter the classroom. the rest of our time together was productive and without incident, the class that was supposed to be the worst, turned out to be the best.
Like math, discipline works.
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