We've All Been There

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Today, for some reason, I was watching videos on YouTube of teachers yelling at their classes. Now, I've been retired for a couple of years, but I could feel my blood pressure rising, just as it used to when I was teaching. However, I was not angry with the teachers. I was angry with the students.

Students can be rude and inattentive. In many cases they set up their teachers so they can watch their them lose their tempers. And now, they're filming it. I'm guessing a lot of those teachers don't even know they're on YouTube.

I was going to post one of the videos here, but decided that the videos don't tell the whole story. Yes, teachers are screaming. No, they shouldn't do that. But I'm guessing almost every teacher I know has been in a similar situation. I have been in this situation.

Every once in a while, you get one of those classes. In 32 years of teaching, I probably had one of those classes maybe 5 or 6 times. No matter what you do, they don't listen. They don't care. You could walk into class in a clown suit and they wouldn't notice. They continue their conversations and when you ask them to quiet down and listen, they act as if you've interrupted them. They'll continue to talk, they get up and walk around the room, they do whatever they feel like doing.

Unfortunately, there are always four or five students in the class who really do want to learn.

So what do you do? You can't send 20 students to the office or to the hall. And yet you need to teach. Detention is an option, but usually these are the students who don't come in for detention. You can call their parents, but that usually doesn't change the student's behavior. I found that calling parents only gives you documentation that you tried that strategy.

As it turns out, there really is very little you can do. And that's when the teacher reaches the end of his or her rope. Sometimes yelling happens. Unfortunately, teachers are human and when pushed to the limit, they do sometimes lose their tempers.

So what's a teacher to do? There are programs that can help. One that comes to mind is "Teaching With Love and Logic" by Jim Fay and Foster W. Cline, MD. There are others as well.

The only problem is that teachers need to learn the strategies before they enter the lion's den. Once the students take control of the classroom, it's very difficult to get it back.

My suggestion to teachers is to learn effective discipline methods before you ever enter a classroom. If you didn't learn them in college, take courses during the summer.

My suggestion to parents is to teach your children that they are in school to get an education. Make sure they understand how important an education is to their futures. They are not there to goad their teachers.

My suggestion to students is to remember that you are in school to learn and to learn to think, and that's really the only reason you're there. You can't do that when you're not paying attention.

20 Years Ago Today

Tweet I usually have a pretty good memory for events that have happened during my lifetime. But when they announced that today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I was surprised that I couldn't remember much about it. I vaguely remember it happening and what a great thing it was, but that's it.

So what was I doing twenty years ago that would cause me to not remember such an historic event? It finally came to me. I was teaching all day, math in the morning and science in the afternoon. It was my first year teaching science and I would go to the science room during the first class period, which was my planning time. I would observe the other science teacher teaching the material, so that I could teach the same things during the afternoon. This meant that all my other planning had to be done after school and on weekends. I was really, really busy and fairly stressed.

But there had to be more than this to cause my memory lapse. Then I remembered that this was also the semester I was doing research for my master's thesis. I was doing a study to see if the addition of special education students in the regular classroom affected the achievement of the regular students. I was busy conducting the study, calculating statistics, writing reports, corresponding with my advisor, and driving 100 miles several times a week (after I'd taught all day) to the university to do research in the library.

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm surprised I remember anything about events that were occurring outside my own little world. I was totally consumed with what I was doing at my job and with my thesis.

Then I started thinking about some of the students I taught over the years. So many of them had lives that totally consumed them. Some dealt with overwhelming circumstances in their lives like sick parents, drug abuse, homelessness, criminal activity, physical abuse, neglect, domestic assault, and their own terminal diseases. Thank goodness there were not many of these students, but it's little wonder they had trouble learning. And yet, we expected them to perform as well as the students without these problems.

If I don't remember something as significant as the fall of the Berlin Wall because I was dealing with mild stresses in my life, is it any wonder that students with such staggering obstacles in their lives should have trouble remembering their studies?

I think we need to keep this in mind when dealing with students. Most of the time, we don't know what's happening in their lives. We often think they're not paying attention, when their attention could just be focused on their own survival.

Solutions For Classroom Interruptions

Tweet I'm sorry we were so rudely interrupted yesterday during my blog post. I was answering the question, "What can we do about interruptions?" I said that complaining only helps temporarily, if at all. And I said that you just have to accept that you're going to be interrupted and to roll with it.

But are there other options? I think there may be a few.

1. Phone calls during classroom instruction:

• Check the caller ID. If it's important, answer it. If not, don't.
• Turn the ringer down, so that it doesn't disturb the students.
• Don't answer it. Let it go to voice mail or an answering machine.
• Answer it, tell them you're busy, and that you'll call them back when you have time. You can also leave this as your message on voice mail.

2. Colleagues or students at your door during classroom time:

• Post a notice on the door "We Are Learning. Please Do Not Disturb."
• Leave a message box by the door. Non-emergency notes should be placed here. Just remember to hand them out before class is over.
• Quietly ask them what they need. If it can wait until later, tell them that you'll talk to them about it during lunch or after class or after school.

3. Student disruptions during class:

• Keep your lessons interesting so that students will be less likely to be distracted.
• Have rules for students being out of their seats, sharpening pencils, listening to intercoms, etc.
• Keep extra supplies on hand for students who do not have their books, pencils, or paper.

4. Students leaving the room:

• Again, keep lessons interesting so that students will not want to leave.
• Have procedures for students using the restroom, going to the clinic, going to another classroom, going to the library, students arriving early or late, getting drinks, going to assemblies, etc.

5. Fire drills, storm drills, and lock down procedures:

• Your school should have a plan in place for these kinds of interruptions. Know it and follow it.

6. Noisy interruptions:

• Ask that intercom announcements be given at the beginning or end of class periods.
• Let teachers around you know when you are giving a test so that they can be a little more quiet.
• If you're going to be teaching a noisy lesson, let teachers around you know. They may ask that you do the lesson another day if they're giving a test.
• If there is noise in the halls, you may be able to ignore it. However, there may be an emergency situation that you will need to handle.

7. After school interruptions when you're trying to finish up the day:

• Often times other teachers, who never seem to have anything to do, want to take up your time. They may want to talk about lessons or they may just want to complain. Either way, you don't get your work done.
• You can close your door, but don't do this if there are students in your room.
• Find another place to work like the lunch room or library.
• Pack up early and take your work home with you.
• Pack up early and come in early the next morning.

There will always be interruptions, but if you plan carefully and follow these suggestions, you may be able to keep them to a minimum. They can be a huge source of stress and dissatisfaction if you don't.

21 Ways To Spend Your Extra Hour

Tweet It's November 1 and daylight savings time has ended. Today we get an extra hour to:

1. take a walk in the park

2. read the next few chapters in your favorite book

3. watch half of your favorite movie

4. meditate

5. rake leaves

6. talk to your best friend

7. call someone you haven't talked to for a while

8. paint the hallway

9. do yoga

10. play 20 of your favorite songs

11. dance the hour away

12. make a new recipe you haven't had time for

13. clean off your desk

14. get a massage

15. play a game with the family

16. catch up on homework or bills or filing

17. update your personal information on Facebook

18. write a blog post

19. play sports - football, basketball, tennis, bowling

20. be grateful for the things in your life

21. sleep (everyone's favorite)

10 Stress Busters for Teachers

Tweet I found that the worst part of teaching is the stress. While the actual teaching is fun and the kids are usually great, almost everything else about the job is pure stress. It's not a job, it's a career. It's not what you do, it's who you are. You are a teacher...24/7/365. It never goes away...not even when you retire. If you're not careful, it becomes all you do. You teach, and when you're not teaching, you're still working for the job. There are discipline problems to deal with, parents, administration, school board, school law, new legislation, low pay, keeping up on your own coursework to renew your certificate, working on a higher degree, checking papers, making lesson plans, counseling, motivating, meeting state standards, implementing new strategies and innovations and initiatives, documenting, being a nurse until the child can get to the real nurse, keeping up on latest research and technologies, parent-teacher conferences, grades, email, school events and activities, patrolling hallways and bathrooms, filing, and a million other things.

So how does a teacher do it all without going insane? Every teacher has to have some stress relief. My favorite was a Garfield poster on my wall. Every once in a while during the day, I would look it over. It said, "I've had it with reality. I want a fairy godmother." Just that little break with a bit of humor was often enough to send me on through the rest of the day.

Below are 10 more methods teachers can use to deal with stress.

1. Concentrate on your breath. Breath in through your nose for a count of four, then breath out through your mouth for a count of eight. Do this several times. It works like a mini meditation.

2. Take a quick walk around the halls between classes. It gets you out of your room and gives you some exercise.

3. Drink some water.

4. Daydream for a few seconds. Imagine that you're sitting on a sandy beach with the sun shining down watching the waves roll in.

5. Pop some bubble wrap.

6. Keep some fresh flowers on your desk. Enjoy them frequently during the day.

7. Hum a song.

8. Squeeze a stress ball.

9. Go to http://www.lime.com/meditation_room and click on your choice of rooms.

10. Keep some lavender scent on hand for its calming effect.

Always remember how important you are. This video from YouTube may help (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptw1VcV29-M).