Devolving

Sometimes I feel our actions as teachers do not meet the expectations we have of our students. Some examples:

1. A teacher walks her students in a line through the school. She is at the head of the line, and they are all trailing behind her like ducklings following their mama. Can the expectation be that the students will walk in a straight line, silently, with their limbs to themselves?
2. A teacher assigns group work to the class, then sits down behind her desk to grade papers. Can the expectation be that the students will stay on topic and complete the work?
3. A teacher doesn't have a consequence for students who are tardy because she feels that sometimes the kids just need a little slack. Can the expectation be that the students will not abuse this policy, coming to class on time the majority of the time?

If the expectation is that a middle school student will monitor his own behavior and actions and do what is right just because, then the student is being set up for failure. Middle school students are just not wired that way ... it's not in their nature to police themselves. They, bless their hearts, cannot be trusted to do anything remotely responsible without an insane amount of supervision. They are all on the verge of devolving into a chaotic mess of wind, words, dust, and paper similar to the Tasmanian devil that annoyed Bugs Bunny. Only the watchful, hawk-like eyes of a teacher can curb this whirlwind of crazy.

You can try to trust them to walk down a hallway and not push their "friends" into the trashcans or try to knock the clocks off the walls, but the temptation is too great, and you're not looking, so there's no reason not to do these things.

You can hope they will care enough about their class grade to focus on the work and try their best, but this is an instant gratification generation. They get nothing out of doing this assignment right NOW; the grade comes later, and the report card even later than that. They don't see the consequence because it's too far away.

You can try to cut them some slack, but tomorrow they'll see how much more slack they can get out of you. Give them an inch, they'll try for a mile.

My students will tell you that I am "mean." The discipline plan kicks in on the second day of school: you will behave in the hallways, even if we have to walk side-by-side like best friends shopping at the mall; you will use class time for work time, even if I have to hover over your desk and eavesdrop on your group discussions for the entire 30 minutes; you will be held accountable for evey single time you are late to my class. Yes, I am very mean, and I like being this way.

After a few days, I can shift my focus from establishing my meanness to teaching my class because I have fewer discipline problems. They stop testing boundries because they have found that the boundries aren't that far away and are fortified with a refusal on my part to back down. 

And the kids ... they evolve back into the responsible kids I know they can be when they know someone is watching them like a hawk.

Everyone wins.