I Control the Tone of My Classroom

I had a tough day today with my kids. They continued to talk over me, they laughed a few times at each other when I gave consequences, and I caught a bit of disrespect from one student in particular who ended up needing a conversation with the principal to get back on track. (I would be more than happy to share the details on that and how I handled it! Just come ask me.)

I typically reflect through conversations with other teachers or people to get feedback and advice. It helps me work through and process everything in my mind. As I was talking about my day and the behavior of my students, Mrs. Hernandez asked me, "When you are reflecting on days like this, what conclusion do you usually come to for why the kids were acting that way?"

My response to her was this:    ME.  I am the reason that they act up. When I am not consistent in my consequences and don't hold them accountable to the norms, they get crazy. When I come in and am in a bad mood and am negative or grumpy towards them, they react in anger. When my lesson is poorly planned and unorganized, my class becomes unorganized and chatty.  I control the entire tone of my classroom. My kids feed off of my energy--both subconsciously and consciously. I have the power and control in my classroom to lift us all up, but I also have the ability, more than any student, to bring us all down to the depths. It's days like this that I remember the full scope of my influence on a daily level. As teachers, we have an immense amount of responsibility. We can crush dreams, and sour good moods with just a few grumpy days and snarky words.

Because we work with people, small or big, its sometimes easy to forget that this is our job. And just like any job, we are charged with putting on a smile even when we feel like crying, with creating rigorous and engaging lessons even when we're tired, and with loving students even when we feel like yelling.

Mrs. Hernandez, Thank you so much for pushing me to reflect even deeper. I continue to grow as a teacher, because of conversations with people like you! And thank you for encouraging me to put this on my blog. :) I appreciate you!

Glencliff Open House

Last night Glencliff Humanities Summer Academy had its first Open House for parents and families.  Each class was charged with creating stations that best showed off the work of their kids and helped get parents involved in the curriculum. As I was walking through the CM classrooms, I saw the most gorgeous uses of space and professional displays of student work. I wanted to take a minute to shout out one classroom in particular and show you guys the student driven and welcoming space that they created.

This was their student work wall. It was downright beautiful. I'm totally stealing it. 

At this station, they engaged the parents and students who came by bringing awareness to a social issue that exists right here in Nashville--Homelessness. They had excerpts of articles from the Contributer, the homeless newspaper, and had their visitors write ideas for things that we can do to make change and help the homeless. 

 They even had a slide show of pictures of them with their kids. :)

They also made the coolest brochures and displayed all of their curriculum! So, shoutout to Room 203 for putting a TON of effort into making your classroom a room that you, your kids, and the entire Glencliff team could be proud of.