Love & Logic...
I've been reading Teaching With Love and Logic so that I might learn a thing or two about classroom management and how to end your day with a little of your dignity left intact and energy enough to cook dinner, none of which I possess after a day of teaching. I literally wear myself out. I come home exhausted and so very, very thankful that I have a whole week to recover before I have to go back and teach again. For the first few weeks of the year I just figured this was the way it was. It's a tiring job and so, naturally, I will be tired at the end of the day. After about three months, however, I was even more tired and I started wondering how in the world the other teachers could possibly muster the courage to go back the very next day, five days in a row. Around month five I was recognizing the signs and symptoms of denial and now, 8 months later and with only 4 weeks left of school I am finally accepting that some of my classroom methods are not working and that I am the only one with the responsibility to change them. So, I did what any American living 5 miles from a Barnes & Noble would do...I bought me a book.
Now the tricky part....no, silly, not the reading...the retaining and adapting. I have some "hard" kids in a couple of my classes and I am bound and determined to let them know that while I don't approve of their behavior, I still appreciate them as a person. Okay...let me just say...this is so hard to do! I can't believe how hard it is! Grace. Seriously, I can't even get over how incredibly difficult it is to show kindness and love towards someone who just spilled 1000 beads all over the art room floor, or who just told you that they hated you as the Art teacher and wished Mrs. So and So was still teaching, or who rolled their eyes at your latest lesson plan - the same lesson plan you worked on all weekend and even lost sleep over because you kept replaying the process and presentation over and over in your head just to make sure it was worth their time and effort. Grace, it ain't whistlin' Dixie. It's no walk in the park. It is honest to goodness, bonified work. The kind you have to practice at over and over again and then still forget how to do - even after a million attempts.
Today I came home after teaching more energetic than I have in a long time. I practiced. I even brought my book with me and read some of the highlighted sections when I had a precious second to spare. Grace, Catie. Limit the emotions, allow the student to face consequences, but remind them you will still be a loving teacher before, during and after they are in any kind of trouble. Give the kids choices and remind them they are important to you. And so I did....and you know what? Grace, I am finding, is not only hard to do, it's immensely rewarding, even with meager attempts. I had a great day today in Art class, despite some rolling eyes, back talking and yes, a few spilled beads on the floor.
Now the tricky part....no, silly, not the reading...the retaining and adapting. I have some "hard" kids in a couple of my classes and I am bound and determined to let them know that while I don't approve of their behavior, I still appreciate them as a person. Okay...let me just say...this is so hard to do! I can't believe how hard it is! Grace. Seriously, I can't even get over how incredibly difficult it is to show kindness and love towards someone who just spilled 1000 beads all over the art room floor, or who just told you that they hated you as the Art teacher and wished Mrs. So and So was still teaching, or who rolled their eyes at your latest lesson plan - the same lesson plan you worked on all weekend and even lost sleep over because you kept replaying the process and presentation over and over in your head just to make sure it was worth their time and effort. Grace, it ain't whistlin' Dixie. It's no walk in the park. It is honest to goodness, bonified work. The kind you have to practice at over and over again and then still forget how to do - even after a million attempts.
Today I came home after teaching more energetic than I have in a long time. I practiced. I even brought my book with me and read some of the highlighted sections when I had a precious second to spare. Grace, Catie. Limit the emotions, allow the student to face consequences, but remind them you will still be a loving teacher before, during and after they are in any kind of trouble. Give the kids choices and remind them they are important to you. And so I did....and you know what? Grace, I am finding, is not only hard to do, it's immensely rewarding, even with meager attempts. I had a great day today in Art class, despite some rolling eyes, back talking and yes, a few spilled beads on the floor.
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