Hammertime

A quick update, my sister (Kelly) told me last night that I was making her nervous with my allowing the kids to challenge me. As I said in yesterday's post, I wasn't too worried, but just her worrying was enough to get me thinking. So today, I came in with a somewhat modified attitude and tried to be a little more serious. The morning went really well, but at about lunchtime, some of the kids started getting a little sassy again and I decided that that was going to be enough. The trigger was when, with 15 minutes left before lunch, I made all of them write me a one-page friendly letter about any topic of their choosing. Immediately, the complaining began with little "Mr. Knight is mean" comments from the table of three girls (two American and one French)  and the French girl specifically arguing with me about having to do it. She tried to just scribble throughout the whole page and turn it in, so I told her that I'd just throw it away and she'd have to start again. She challenged me again and I told her that she was wasting her time and would end up losing her entire lunch period if she didn't get it done. In the end, she tried to write me a list, then tell me that a list is the same as a letter. A simple argument really: if a list is the same as a letter, why do they have different definitions in the dictionary? I told her she'd be doing it over the weekend and she said she wouldn't. I told her we'd see about that...

So after lunch, the kids came back in all jacked-up and were set to leave immediately to their "specials" (electives). The girls started back in with the whole Mr. Knight is this, Mr. Knight is that, I had had enough. I told them to sit down and stay put, but one of them tried to get up anyway. I got the real serious look on my face and the stern voice and sure enough, they didn't move. I saw the other kids off and went back in to talk to the girls. I told them that they'd be stopping with the nonsense, and I think that did it. Hopefully no more sassing from those three.

Then later, one of my alpha-male Korean boys wouldn't leave the room after getting kicked out of Silent Ball. I tried to give him a five-second countdown, but he just put his head down and didn't move. I told him to follow me outside, where I had my second talk of the day about doing what he was told. I don't think he's used to anybody ever telling him what to do, but I think we reached and understanding.

So, Kelly (and anyone else who was worried about my newfound lax teaching style), no more worries. I'm pretty sure that the kids in my class have a newfound understanding of who's in charge. It's funny that after 12 years in the classroom, I'm being reminded of the need to come in fairly firm. It's a lesson I've never really had to think about these past five years or so because the kids had already come in terrified of me, but maybe the old "Mr. Knight" needs rear his ugly head every once in a while to remind the kids how good they have it with the new and improved version...