It’s 12:40pm, the high pitch whistles of security
reverberate through the halls as the student body clears out of the courtyard from
lunch, up the stairwells, and into their 8th period classes. Unlike
most days this past year, I was not ready for the 30+ students about to enter our
classroom. I was not standing at the
door with a smile eagerly awaiting to greet them. Instead, I had placed a stool
in the doorway to keep the door open (eventually asking a student to hold the
door open) while I stood at my desk, frantically finishing whatever I was in
the middle of. As per usual though, a
slide with the class’ opening activity (or “bell ringer” as my school refers to
it), was projected onto my not-so-smart-anymore smart board. However, despite
the normalcy of the classroom’s learning expectations and routines, the
majority of the students dawdled around the room either engrossed in the latest
social media post, thoroughly engaged in their hallway conversation/gossip, or
a combination of both. A handful of
students bombarded me at my desk, as I barked orders for the class to settle
down, open their notebooks, and begin their bell ringer. In the midst of the chaos, I noticed the sassiness
of a student and felt her aggravated energy. At the uttering of an under the breath
comment followed by laying her head down on the table – a clear sign of
rebellion and thus disengagement – still from my desk, I called her name and
requested a conversation. When she
arrived at my desk, now cleared of all students except her, I innocently and sincerely
asked “What’s going on? I can tell something seems to be up.” Boldface she
responded “It’s you. It’s your
energy! Normally you are at the door greeting us with a smile and excitement to
learn, but today you’re here, at your desk, yelling at us to settle down.”
She stopped me in my tracks.
Her response was the last thing I had anticipated her to say, knowing
she had recently experienced some issues with other students trying to bait her
into unwanted drama. But her response was
exactly what I needed to hear. It gave me pause. I took a deep breath in and
out, not out of infuriation with her, but to focus on and calm the frantic energy
within; she was right. I then responded
to her, “you’re right. But look around the room and notice what’s going on,
here’s how you can help me…” I proceeded to ask for her assistance in encouraging her classmates to settle into the classroom routines and expectations, readying
themselves to engage in learning. And so,
she did. With one more deep breath in and out, I followed behind greeting each grouping
of students with a smile and a new sense of energy.
