Monday, March 12, 2018
Mean Miss Kelsch
Today I became Mean Miss Kelsch. Mean Miss Kelsch is what happens when my students stop listening and think it's ok to talk over me. Mean Miss Kelsch is what happens when I have to wait two minutes before even beginning the lesson because my students are talking. Mean Miss Kelsch is what happens when I use all my tricks for good behavior and my students elect to behave incorrectly.
So after staring at my students who were blatantly ignoring me, I walked out of my classroom, took off my jacket, and came back in.
"I am Mean Miss Kelsch," I announced. "You do not get to talk when I am talking. You must sit and listen and follow along. Regular nice Miss Kelsch will come back when I see that you are ready to listen."
They sat in silence. Listening. Watching. Waiting.
We began the lesson. It was math. It was a math review. We got through the whole thing and they were even able to start on their homework. They kept their voices off unless called on. They raised their hands for every comment and question. They listened. They followed along. They kept up.
I do not particularly like to be Mean Miss Kelsch especially since I've never had to be her before. I sincerely hope that she never has to come out again. But with the amount of paying attention, and lesson that got done, maybe I should be Mean Miss Kelsch every day.
Tomorrow, I'm off to a conference on classroom management. Hopefully I'll learn how to get the results of Mean Miss Kelsch without being her. And when I go back to class we'll talk. We'll reset. We'll find solutions. And maybe I won't ever need to be Mean Miss Kelsch ever again.
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This reminds me of Viola Swamp in Miss Nelson is Missing! Sounds like you took a very creative approach to solve your classroom management problem today and got a humorous slice out of it, too. I love the way you end the piece by announcing you are going to a classroom management conference tomorrow-perfect timing. Hope you learn lots of tips and tricks!
ReplyDeleteI was just having a conversation with my co-workers today about how we have to be the mean teacher sometimes. It's never fun, but sometimes it feels like a necessity! The frustration is real when those kids talk over you. I was feeling the struggle with that yesterday too. I hope you get some great ideas from the conference!
ReplyDeleteIt's true when we do something unexpected, the students sometimes really respond. I am pretty soft spoken and if having trouble with talking I talk softly and give directions- when they get the paper or experiment and don't know the expectations, I tell them I told them and the people who were listening know what to do. That often does the trick. Sometimes, when they are giving an answer, I start to have a conversation with another student about something not related, when they call me on that...which they always do. I say "Oh I thought it would be ok with you to talk over you, why isn't that alright?" Then we have a class conversation about expectations. Good Luck with the conference!
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