Thursday, Sept. 24

I am realizing how difficult class management will be. I thought I knew before, but I really didn't. We talk about it in class, and I believe many of us think that if we stay consistent and tenacious and use much of the great advice in the articles we've been reading that we'll be just fine pretty much all of the time. I don't think so.

For every clever and research-based technique for positive behavior reinforcement we come up with, there's a handful of kids who can crush that technique into tiny little bits. I student teach with kinders and they've already got it goin' on. I have seen kids take advantage of the "Be nice and respectful" rule. I've seen them craft the "Choose to make it a small problem" technique into a handy tool for getting what they want. And, I've seen them take the coolest of problem-solving skills and hammer it into the ground. I guess you can do your homework on the subject of class management until, well, the cows come home. But, there are just no guarantees with kids. That must be why one of the teachers at the school said that that is a challenge that all teachers work on indefinitely.