Tonight I got the chance to hear Ron Clark speak. He's an educator (or, as he introduces himself, a "schoolteacher" -- how refreshingly straightforward, eh?) whose story was brought to life in a movie starring Matthew Perry. Perry was nominated for an Emmy for his performance.
Clark's story is amazing. He never intended to be a teacher. One small boy reeled him in and the rest is history. He works exclusively with low-wealth students and is opening a school here in Atlanta. His technique is simple: create a family in the schoolroom. He has 55 rules that he makes the students live by in his room. Some are simple: make eye contact, etc. Some are funny/interesting: NEVER bring Doritos into his classroom. Support each other. Lift each other up rather than bring each other down.
It was a message I desperately needed to hear. Ever since I started this path I've felt instinctively that the way to make a classroom work is to treat the kids with respect. I've heard too many teachers complaining about the lack of respect for adults and I've noticed that these are usually the teachers who treat the kids with the most DISrespect. The Kindergarten teacher I was placed with in the spring spoke to the kids in ways I wouldn't even speak to my DOG. Even now, as much as I adore my cooperating teacher, she tears the kids apart. When they show her a work product, full of pride for their effort, she publicly humiliates them. I can't stand it.
I want to find what makes each child tick. I want the kids to come in and be happy to be at school. I think the best way to get the kids to respect me is not through fear and intimidation but by modelling for them what respect looks like. This takes longer, admittedly. It's a lot easier to just yell and move clips to yellow or red. But there has to be a better way. I want to get them to work harder by encouraging their effort (and please note, this isn't the blanket praise thing -- I praise their effort and their improvement) and teaching them the next step. One little boy came to show me his "story" today. This is a child who, when he went into Special Ed five weeks ago, could only write the letters 't', 'a' and 'l', all of which he would repeated over an entire paper. Today he wrote a 'story' (okay, more like a few words, but STILL) where he actually sounded out and properly wrote words like 'crawl' and 'door'. There was even a period in there! I was so proud of him! He's come so far! And all the teacher did was say, "You're supposed to write a story. This is just a bunch of words. Boy, get back to that desk and do it again." Needless to say, when he went back to his desk he didn't work. He just laid his head down on his desk, after kicking the girl next to him.
Isn't respect a two-way street? Don't children deserve to be treated with dignity?
There has to be a better way.
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