Some kids have rough home lives. They learn to be on guard against emotional or physical attack. When we start our class, we should try to remember that, because we won’t reach those few particular kids with our instruction if they are wary of us, not from anything we did, but from their own upbringing.
So how to disarm them? I am now going to try to remember, in the first few minutes of each class, to be as cheerful as I can. That may help me reach those kids who don’t have a reason to be cheerful and who can’t trust adults.
I just can’t remember to be cheerful the whole class – there is just too much going on, and I am not a cheerleader type, but I can try to be as cheerful as I can – and not in a fake way – in those first few minutes of class. It might make a difference.