I hade a long talk with each of my classes today. I told them that I need to grade them next year (I hope to be with them), in a different way than this year. I told them that I would grade them on their ability to follow the rules, and that I had to do that because of the position of the national organization for language teachers and the new Colorado state standards and the new Denver Public Schools LEAP initiative, which require me to stay in French over 90% of the time, and that I cannot possibly do that unless they follow the rules.
I made it clear that, unlike their other classes, French class is not about doing “work” but about just listening and reading the language with no interruptions. I asked them if they felt that we had had too many interruptions this year and they all said yes. iI agreed fully, in my mind. In my heart I felt the truth of how I never ever again want to experience all the interruptions that I experienced as a teacher this year.
There was a feeling of good will in the room during the discussion. I talked about individual kids – for some reason we had gotten into that kind of safety zone in our discussion. I looked certain kids square in the eye and gently skewered them regarding certain of their behaviors, but I did in a way that they accepted it. It was very cool.
This was our first metacognition discussion ever, and it was a good one. It cleared the air and we felt much closer at the end of class. I could tell they “saw” me more at the end of class. The discussion lasted most of the period. To wrap things up, I told them that I would be grading them for the rest of the year, as an experiment here at the end of the year to see if it will work next year, in the following way, as another way besides the daily quick quizzes to determine their grade:
- Head on Desk – O for the day (no warnings)
- Cell Phone Use – O for the day (no warnings)
- Extended Bathroom Trip – O for the day (no warnings)
- Blurting/Talking Over – 2nd offense – O for the day (after one warning)
- Blurting/Talking Over – 3rd offense – student is removed to a colleague’s room (after two warnings)
- Absent without excuse presented in the next few days – O for the day (in other words, I put the zero in for an absence automatically and they have to produce a written excuse to get the zero neutralized.) – this one I need to think about but the other four I am solid on implementing. Actually I think this one will work too.
The thing is, we are forced by an out of control system to do this as part of our jobs, so that we can even do our jobs. We cannot do our jobs unless we do something like this. I have never come close to good classroom management of the kind that I believe is possible, that is, great CI with no interruptions. I have always had to keep a slightly bitchy edge to get the CI to run smoothly, and I don’t want to do that anymore.
It is emotionally draining without concrete consequences to instantly back up those awesome rules. Note importantly that the teaching with CI gives energy, it is mentally healthy giving and therefore not draining at all. It is the enforcement of the method in a robotic society that is severely draining.
Those who say that TPRS/CI too draining emotionally and tiring are wrong; it’s the opposite – it gives energy and can even be a kind of emotional high, a happy state of sharing stories with others that is really quite wonderful and have given me over these past 12 years some of the happiest moments of my life.
The discipline piece, largely due to kids who find themselves severely uncomfortable in being asked to show up in classrooms as real human beings, is the real culprit, and I feel that we have here a nice new unopened can of new and improved Whoopass that we can spray around the room here in May and then let it fly all over the room in the fall for one very badass result and a change in our relationships with our jobs that could be of monumental proportion.
I do not think that this is too complex. It looks more complex than it is. It just will take some getting used, to act in the moment. But what are our options? I, for one, will never go back into a classroom for another year without this kind of arsenal against those kids who need to be overpowered, and whose good will doesn’t extend beyond their self-centered little faces.
To make it simple, I told them, at every infraction, I will briefly pause in class, walk over to the gradebook, enter the O for the head down or whatever. I told them that if they had no infractions and were clearly trying to show up and be present for class, they would get a 10 (perfect score) for that class. I told them that the rules only applied to when we were either reading or talking in French. I told them that in the moments that we were transitioning to another part of class, or if we were on a brain break, they could put their head down, text, go quickly to the bathroom, and blurt all they want.
I like telling my students how I feel. I like making it clear to them that my success as their teacher depends entirely on their following my rules. I feel that doing this, this tying of their behavior to grades and gains, will cut down on the amount of phone calls I have to make and it will cut down, as well, on the pandemic of absenteeism in my school. I told them that the images of adults that they see on TV will not be applied into my classroom. I like that they understand that I can’t possibly stay in the target language 90% of the time (my real goal is 95-98% of the time) without their help. I know that I can reach my L2 goals with their help.