Learn and Serve #3

Over the years, I have visited many wonderful schools and classrooms. At each location I have learned a great deal from the teachers I have been with. The lessons I have learned from these teachers have been both good and bad. I have learned new ways to interact with the students and different styles of discipline. Even though I may have not agreed with all the styles of teaching; I have enjoyed my time in each of the classrooms. That is until now.
The classroom I am in is a fifteen – one contained classroom. In this classroom, there are fourteen boys and one girl. This classroom does not have any in class help for the teacher or students. For the students who do need extra help in any content area or anything else, they leave the classroom and meet with another teacher.
In the time I have spent in the classroom, I have not seen the teacher teach the classroom yet nor have I seen any lesson plans unfold. What I have witnessed though is the students catching up on worksheets, the students’ outbursts, and their Friday afternoon movie ritual.
The first day I walked into the classroom, the students were out of their seats yelling at each other and the substitute teacher was standing at the front of the classroom, looking as if she could pull her hair out. The substitute teacher was trying to catch the students up on science work which consisted of steps in an experiment, meanwhile the students yelled at each other and pick on the only girl in class. The classroom commotion continued in this manner until the students were able to watch a movie. This class scared me at first but I thought, “Well, if I get through today when the teacher comes back it should be better.”
Unfortunately my optimism never became reality. The days never became easier or better. Once the teacher came back, she put me next to individual students to watch what he or she was doing. I watch for about ten to fifteen minutes while each one actively anticipated going to another room to watch a movie.
These movies are rewards for the students who have completed their work and have been good all week. Honestly though, I watch as the students just race through their work to get it done. I do not think they are learning all they can from their work because I watch as they are required to redo work over and over on mistakes that I can tell they know.
The hardest part of my Learn and Serve is witnessing the over all intensity of student disrespect. The students yell out, threaten other students in the class, and make menacing comments to the teacher such as, and I quote, “I want to watch you die.” Experiences like these in the classroom scare me. I know these situations may occur for me one day in my own classroom but I believe these circumstances can be handled effectively and not be heard every day.

A link for classroom management strategies