WOW! What do you do when your class is WILD?!!?

I was working as a Special Ed para yesterday and found myself in a classroom where the two kids I was assigned to were really quite manageable compared to most of the other students! There were kids that were outright defiant, several ADHD boys walking around and bouncing out of their seats, one had this need to spin two pencils in his hands as he walked around that must have been calming to him, and a couple of girls that talked nonstop, despite repeated warnings and having their seats changed. I was impressed at the teachers calm and persistence. She never yelled, went around and reminded kids who were NOT doing what they should what they SHOULD be doing, but meanwhile helping the kids that were actually trying to do the work. I could not imagine facing this same situation day after day, week after week, for an entire school year. I had the opportunity to talk briefly with the teacher about how she dealt with it and her answer was that she just kept trying. She planned good lessons, she tried to remain calm and consistent, and she gave them a chance everyday, all day, to get in to something.


When I came back into this same classroom later in the day she was modeling a How To writing assignment by showing the kids How To make fresh squeezed lemonade- they were mesmerized, excited, engaged. They were writing in the sheet as she modeled (all but one student who was spinning his pencils) and each got a turn to come up and squeeze a lemon into the pitcher. When the writing was done, and the lemonade made and drunk (it was delicious!), the kids starting going back to wild...only a few of them were beginning to think about what their How To would be about or how to describe what they were doing.

But for 15-20 minutes this teacher was teaching and the kids were engaged and appreciative. And that is what keeps her going, knowing that every day, or maybe once every few days, it happens...the kids are receptive and calm enough to engage and get excited about what they are doing.

This is a veteran teacher. She has a bag of management tools and years of experience. She has been successful at bringing students through year after year, learning and acquiring what they need to go on and be successful in subsequent grades. She has an impossible situation this year, there should be at least three adults in this classroom and a number of the students need services who are not getting them. But rather than standing at the front of the class yelling for order (which she says she has tried but to no effect and it just leaves her feeling terrible about her own teaching) she just keeps trying. I imagine a sailboat with a changing wind constantly re-tacking and trying to make progress without capsizing.

This is why subbing is a key part of my education. I can see that every child is different, every situation is different, and that I will always be learning and reevaluating, reflecting and adapting- I am impressed by teachers that are still learning after 20 years in their jobs to be responsive to the group of children in front of them NOW...