Hello everyone,
Last week, during one of the lessons that I observed, a particular Form 4 student was constantly disruptive. At one point the teacher told him, "Hawnhekk mhux qieghed id-dar ghand ommok!". This comment triggered the student to reproach; he pointed his finger at her and shouted, "Issemmix 'l ommi, fhimt, daqshekk!" The teacher retired in silence and after the lesson terminated she talked to him personally and I overheard him confessing that he had problems at home. The teacher apologized and assured him that she spoke generically without any intention of making him feel uneasy.
This episode struck me especially because the teacher apologized afterwards when she was talking to him alone. I kept on thinking and asking myself; if I find myself in the same situation, shall I apologize immediately and thus set and example to the other students that feeling sorry is not a cowardly thing or shall I imitate this teacher's handling of the situation?
Hmmm a very interesting piece of discourse here... I mean after having discussed our lecture I feel that I would say I would avoid such sticky situations in the first place. My personal opinion is that shouting, threatening, and using verbal metaphors does not work much in the classroom... probably extreme politeness with a dash of sarcasm, but always retaining good control would work much better in this situation. A good friend of mine who is also a teacher has an impressive way of dealing with this. What I think are more important than words are gestures... the way we look at our students, our behaviour, posture... my father who is a hardened and now retired teacher, taught me this... he used to tell me..."It takes me one look to silence my students" and he used to say this about students he taught at opportunity centres and trade schools some years ago. I think it says a lot about classroom management.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I am not advocating military discipline. I always firmly believe in engaging and motivating students, and reaching that target is I believe the best classroom management strategy you can come up with.