Animal House?

I’ve been out the past two weeks due to a death in my family– the longest I’ve ever been away from a classroom for which I am the mainstream teacher. I’ve been a wreck, to be frank; imagining parents with pitchforks, abusive substitutes, all the inadequacies I manage to paper over with my physical presence on display.

I start back on Monday, and slipped in today to try and unobtrusively grab my laptop for some weekend grading. Didn’t work; I was swarmed by kids who were obviously and genuinely glad to see me. It was lovely.

Then some of them starting dissing the sub, about six inches from the sub (yikes). I put a quick end to that. But I noted too that disciplinary actions due to kids in my class were way up– my team was handling them in house, bless their hearts, but my impression was that more referrals had been written in these two weeks than I had done all year.

I can’t be pleased about this. As Rafe Esquith puts it in his book Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire:

We’ve all seen this time and again: students do a terrific job with a fine teacher, but one day the teacher calls in sick or has to attend a meeting. A substitute takes over, and the classroom that had previously functioned so well turns into a scene from Animal House.

Sadly, I’ve actually encountered teachers who are proud of this. They think it shows what wonderful teachers they are– that they can control kids when others cannot. Recently, I heard a teacher brag, “My kids only watch films with me. They say it’s not good when I’m not around. ” This is a teacher who has forgotten that we may lead the class, but the students determine if a class is outstanding or mediocre.

I realize this is simply the other face to the same coin I’ve been struggling with my entire middle school career: my kids, with adults or peers, do not as a rule default to respect. This does not mean they are not inherently respectful, kind, or good children; overwhelmingly, they are. But it does mean that I fight daily against a confluence of culture, home life, and other nebulous factors that teach my children that self-absorption is OK; that sarcasm, flippancy and defiance is the norm; that everyone must earn civility, instead of being given it simply by dint of being alive; that you do what you can get away with, because you’re not getting anything else; that there is no high road.

I need to fix this, and no matter how well they learn their concepts or internalize their skills, my classes will remain mediocre until it is.

Kim L. Says:
April 4th, 2009 at 8:59 pm

The heart of the matter then, is we teach. We tell them what they are doing well,and explain why we believe something they are doing is wrong. We expect much from them.We are patient, we are kind, we forgive.

I will be thinking of you Monday!

Hadass Says:
April 5th, 2009 at 1:27 am

First of all, my condolences on your loss.

I do hear what you are saying. I am working as a substitute this year, and I do notice that some classes become wild when their regular teacher is gone. I tend to blame it on the authoritarian system kids have to function under – when the cat is away, the mice will play.

The classes I have had the fewest issues with have been classes where the kids knew what their work was and what their routine was, and took charge of the learning. If the class was a community where each person knew what to do and what to expect, things went much more smoothly than when the regular teacher controlled their every act.

I am not saying that you are this kind of controlling teacher – just that in my observation, the more power the kids have in the regular classroom, the less likely they are to explode when the lid comes off.

Good luck on Monday and have a wonderful holiday.

Joe Says:
April 5th, 2009 at 8:40 am

Alright, I’ll push back. Some substitutes don’t deserve “respect”. We’ve both been around long enough to think of more than a few that are not student friendly. They come in, rule with an iron fist, and then write-up kids when they “disrespect” them. I find it very difficult to get upset with kids challenge the bullshit power structure that certain substitutes try to place in out absence.

But your larger idea of civility is correct. When I come back to my own classroom in a few days, I plan on having that conversation. I won’t ask the kids to “respect” their subs unless the subs earn it. But I will ask them to be aware of the basic humanity of all individuals.

Now, you and I both know some damn good subs. If only we could get them all the time…

But I guess we can’t “control” everything.

Joe Says:
April 5th, 2009 at 8:41 am

Hey, spelling errors up above. I really should proofread before I hit submit. Eh, I’m a level 2.

JYB Says:
April 5th, 2009 at 10:53 am

I am dreading this same issue. My wife is having our second child soon (she just left her class in the hands of a sub the rest of the year)I’ve been prepping my kids as much as possible for when I rush out of class and leave them for a week. We go through dry practice runs of what they do (basically, a giant packet of stuff stashed in their folder for when the time comes).

I will say though my classes are a bit infamous for being sub crazy. About 80% of that is my fault. My classes are always a bit more umm, free-spirited, than others. Usually in a good way but definitely if you’re a sub it’s hard. I can’t really prep the sub other than basics (”The kids can stand if they wish”) There’s also those automatic routines that turn out to be not so automatic once you’re gone, like cleaning at the end of the period.

The other 20% is because I seem to constantly have those conversations where your principal goes, “Student X is constantly battling with Teacher Y, we’re going to change him to your room since you seem to have a good relationship with our special students.” I always end up with a few extra choice students by the end of the year. There’s idealist the part of me that has that feeling that I want all the bad kids because hopefully I can inspire them in some way. Then there’s the other part that knows a good majority I’m not going to reach and they’re just making my life more difficult until June.

JYB Says:
April 5th, 2009 at 11:13 am

This post triggered a memory of something that happened a few weeks ago. On a Monday we came to school and the whole school was tagged up. A mix of gang stuff and just random tagging. Anyway, the whole school is tagged up except for my room. My first period kids walk in and immediately notice the outside is clean. They comment something to the fact that “it’s because everyone respects me.” All I can think is that clearly some of my students are involved and if I had been doing a better job, they wouldn’t have tagged anything in the first place.

Ric Says:
April 5th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

Well spoken. Your general issue (respect vs. cultural onslaughts) is something which only becomes an increasing battle as time passes. Your specific issue (substitutes not getting respect) is one in which you have only a small amount of control.

Unless you are able to convince (not just teach) students that the art of “non-violent protest” and patience are worthwhile practices (and applicable during days with substitutes) the students are at the mercy of an unknown authority figure, and the sub is at the mercy of students at an age when they seek to learn independence (mistakenly displayed as individuality which often takes a disrespectful slant).

This is what the public does not understand about the work of the teacher. They cannot appreciate what we combat when faced with over a hundred children in our care. They struggle with just their own, yet expect us to make up for any deficiencies among the masses.

JYB says in his final sentence, “…if I had been doing a better job, they wouldn’t have [insert any misbehavior] in the first place.” We can only model, encourage, persuade, and teach. At the middle school level, we plant seeds. In the future these students will make their own decision on personal behavior. You corrected their “badmouthing” to demonstrate that it is inappropriate behavior. That’s your role. So keep planting seeds. Just don’t expect an immediate harvest of a job well done.