Hit and Run

I am learning how to be a bitch.

I'm sure this comes as a surprise to those of you who determined quickly (and years ago) that I already was one.

And you wouldn't be wrong. I fit the description easily, especially if you're some nimrod who's trying to ask me out. The Icy Stare of Death beams glacier-blue from my eyes, and you're frozen to the bone. But, I'm a different person around kids. I like them. (Probaby because I don't know when they're trying to ask me out.) They're adventurous. Creative. Funny. With my 6th graders, its a very cooperative learning environment. I feel like I really know what kind of people they are.


But 7/8th grade is different. I'm running with the "big kids" this week, and hoooo-wahhh! Those teachers run that hallway like it's bootcamp. Students don't blink unless they're given a pass to do so. They sit up straight, they get right to work. It's kind of.... awesome. They're like trained mice only they're (surprisingly) less smelly.

It's also kind of sad. Because they don't volunteer either. 7/8th grade feels like high school, where the subject matters more than the students. I felt like I was flinging knowledge at them, and then tossing them out of the room. Here you go! Knowledge! Now, off to math! *flings kid out the door*

The teacher I'm working with said that in order to keep order and silence in the classroom, you've got to be a bitch until February... and then you can start to chill out. If you don't, when the little suckers (my words, not hers) get back from winter break.... they're like a bunch of chimpanzees in a poop-throwing contest (also my words).

I'm just thinking.... there's no WAY I can be bitchy for that long. How am I supposed to connect with the students and build a rapport and get their interest if I don't figure out who they are?
I agree that you have to go in strong-- without classroom discipline/management, a teacher is lost. You can't teach anything if you don't have their eyes and their respect. But to show no warmth for that long? I'm just not that kind of person. There's got to be a middle ground. And some sesame-seed glue out there. But back to the subject-- Being Bitchy 101.

Today, under the tutelage of my new cooperating teacher, I got into the habit of being a stern, squinty-eyed, pursed-lipped school marm. I think I smiled once, but that was it. We did the whole read-the-book- outloud-and-answer-questions routine, which to me is terribly boring, but makes for a much less expressive teaching style. It's easier to be a bitch when you're not talking.

At the end of the day, I ran back to my old classroom and taught science for my cooperating teacher. And woah... what a difference. The kids were.... like chimpanzees in a poop-throwing contest. Loud, giggling, taking way too long to get out what they needed, wasting my time.... I thought to myself "Is this what they're always like, but I had a tolerancy built up... or are they being especially terrible?"

There's no way of knowing. I guess I want the best of both worlds-- to have quiet, hard-working kids who laugh and share.... but only when I say so. Anybody know how to do that?

Overall, I'm sure this week will be helpful. I get to learn what a school day is like, and what the kids are like. I'll learn how to pace myself, and how much content I can fit into a 45 minute period. I'll learn to be a bitch if I have to.

But a week is an awfully short time. Especially since I can't teach my lesson plans, or in my style. I just can't help but feeling like I'm one of them-- I'm being hit with some knowledge, and flung out the door.