Friday, February 11, 2011

The rise of a new dictator...

     I had to lay the hammer down today. Put my foot down, enforce the law, "be the man," or whatever you want to say. Not because of my teacher though, it happened because if me. Well, because of the sudents to be exact. I've mentioned the hallway before. Well basically I've been letting them do as they please, for the most part. However, there are classes going on, so the volume they produce has to be reasonable (we can all agree on that.) One student was screaming and pushing today and I had to quiet her down; unfortunately she wouldn't listen. This same student acted similarly yesterday too, and that day as well she just wouldn't quiet down. Something had to be done. I even gave her plenty of chances today, but she just kept at it, so I had to do it. I had to report her behavior to the teacher and watch some privledges get taken away. I got her into trouble. I guess this is what teachers have to do sometimes. I think I'll feel better about it when it's my own classroom and my own rules that I'm enforcing.
     Concerning punishment and the enforcement of rules, I do think a great deal about it. I think about the behavior that is being enforced or discouraged from any particular punishment. I think about the changes this might influence on a developing individual. If there's one thing I'm for, it's individuality. I love people expressing themselves and being themselves. I worry how strict rules and guidelines could mold people to be unquestioning and too passive when it comes to authority. After all, as we can see all over the world right now, there are times when one should not and must not listen to authority. How do we teach that? On the other hand, self control is a practical and nessecary ability in today's world. While I think if someone wants to start singing and dancing randomly, then they should. It's a beutiful thing. But then again, if I started doing that say, in the classroom when I was supposed to be say, teaching—I may not be becoming a teacher after all... and then there's being inconsiderant and disrespectful too, which is what was happening in this case, as I pointed out to the student several times.
    I know I didn't do anything wrong, but I sure feel bad about it. I guess I'm just a big pushover. Hopefully my philosophy of "give respect; recieve respect" will be an effective classroom management strategy. Well, as long as I don't become that teacher that has obviousyl let power gone to their heads and get off on punishing students then I think I'll be ok. I guess some people just aren't prepared for handling the power that one has over these kids as their teacher and it really changes them. I wish I could study that more.

4 comments:

  1. You didn't do anything wrong, you shouldn't fele bad about it. Like you said, you gave her plenty of chances. If she still doesn't understand, further action may be needed. Think you did well enough ;D

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  2. I can see why you might feel bad about it, but like you said, you've done nothing wrong. Don't worry about it too much.

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