classroom environment: managing 400 relationships a day
Years and years of student teachers, pre-service observers, and teaching artists have passed through my arts classroom. They’ve stayed for an hour, a month, or a semester. They’ve taken pictures of my charts and organizational systems. They’ve frantically written down notes and methods and phrases. They’ve documented my use of a tambourine to refocus the room and transition in and out of activities. And they all want to know the secret to classroom management. And I’ll tell you. The secret to classroom management is...reputation. After over a decade at the same school, kids know. They know I won’t take their crap, but I will take their cell phone. They know that drama class isn’t an “easy A.” They know that I am very invested in their success in my class, and I’m going to push them. This doesn’t always make me the most popular teacher. It’s not everyone’s style. But it's mine.
A few years ago, a colleague and I were chatting about the sixth graders that we both teach. She mentioned that she overheard them talking about how “scary and mean” I am. So she chimed in, “Well, why do you think that?” And when they started to give her examples of what they thought was “mean” or “scary,” they turned out to be examples of my holding them accountable. They were “afraid” because they knew that if they didn’t turn in the assignment, they would get a zero. Or if they didn’t use their rehearsal time, they’d have to go on stage unprepared. This was eye-opening to me. I believe kids need to be held responsible for their actions. There should be consequences and successes for choices such as whether to do their homework or whether to go out for lunch or stay in and work on a group project. I always saw myself as the no-nonsense teacher on a staff full of warm-fuzzies. And I’ve never apologized for that. I don’t strive to be the teacher everyone wants to hug. But this conversation with my colleague opened the door to my next chapter in improving my pedagogy.
“How could I maintain my commitment to accountability and follow-through without being perceived as ‘mean and scary?’”
So I began to actively focus on building rapport with my students. All of them. Not just the devotees of Broadway musicals or the compulsive classroom organizers. But also the surly gamers and too-cool-for-school jocks.
Following this epiphany, my assistant principal helped me develop a plan to start being more transparent with my students about why they might feel like I’m so “strict,” how to make expectations more clear, and ways to continue to hold kids accountable with more flexibility and room for growth--theirs and mine. It’s been a challenging road, but what kind of self-improvement isn’t? And let me tell you, teaching got a whole lot less stressful when I stopped being such a stickler for the “rules” and started teaching into why I was making these policies so that students could find success within them. I like to think that, while students might still be intimidated by me, it’s because they don’t want to have to see my disappointed mom face when they didn’t rise to the challenge laid out for them, rather than the praise, confidence, and success that comes from overcoming a creative challenge. This journey is ongoing, to be sure, and there will always be days where I hear myself and think “Nope! Shouldn’t have said that!” But just like our students, teachers are always growing and learning.
This domain feels pretty intimidating. Even as I was writing this part, I feel like a hypocrite. Rest assured that I do not have this figured out. There is a large gap between knowing how to address these things in theory and actually doing them in the moment surrounded by 30 sticky kindergarteners with 30 different demands. Forgive yourself. You will not always be successful. Celebrate the days (or moments) that go well.
You have heard a million times by now that the key to classroom management is connecting with your students, and the thought of finding time to make 400+ individual connections seems like a pipe dream. But, man, if it doesn’t work. When I made a point of checking in on just one student at the door every class, just the one--the one with paralyzing stage fright that caused him to act out and sabotage others’ performances so he could get kicked out and not have to perform in front of the class--and I would give him a preview of the day’s lesson. Or ask how he was feeling. Or give him a choice of when in the performance order he’d like to go. And it started to work. Was I able to do it every day? No. Was I able to do that for every student? No. Am I convinced that prioritizing this type of connection will help head off a number of disruptive behavior challenges in my classroom? Absolutely.
Like anything else in teaching, the time you take in establishing routines and expectations at the beginning seems like time lost, but developing that common vocabulary, that student independence, and that clarity around expectations, will make other parts of your job so much more manageable. It will help make your classroom a space where students feel safe because there is safety in familiarity. And if they feel safe, they will be more invested in the work.
for the comments.
What have your rapport successes been?
How do you manage 400 relationships a day?
What elements of your classroom routine empowers your students to challenge themselves?
