monsters part 2

As a teacher, I feel bad that I did not take the high road on Wednesday. I promised myself I would do better by not letting tonight's class resemble the events of Wednesday night's. The high road did pay off in more ways than one.

Every Friday, I give vocabulary quizzes as a way of wrapping up Monday's lesson. All of my students can expect a quiz, and in case they forget, I remind them at the end of Wednesday night's class that they should expect one. My reasoning is two-fold: to help them keep perspective on the impending Friday class, and to eliminate any excuses of accusing me of an oversight on Wednesday. I usually allow exceptions for my younger students, but certainly not for my older ones.

Two of the three seventh grade students are prepared for the quiz. The other, the rudest one, who shall be known as Jane, says she was not prepared. I ask why. She says that she was not here for Monday's lesson, so she didn't know. I say that she should be okay as long as she studied the meanings in the book, and that she did the homework. I ask if she heard me say on Wednesday that there will be a quiz today. She says that I said no such thing. Lie number one. I ask did you think there would not be a quiz today. No response. Silent lie number two. I administer the quiz. The other two students race through it so as to not forget the words they crammed right before the quiz. Jane puts her head down, and doodles on the quiz paper. I notice and ask her why she is not doing the quiz. No response. I think about the higher road. That meant a higher power.

I leave the classroom during the quiz and knock on Chang's, the director, door. I inform him of the situation and he calls Jane out of class. Jane is out of the classroom for fifteen minutes, and the class runs smoothly during the time she is gone. She returns as I explain the homework due next time. After I explain the assignment and answer a question about it, the class is over. I stay behind to ask Chang about Jane.

Chang says Jane did not say much during their talk. He says he told her that he doesn't want to ever be called on again for talking to her. He gives me his assessment of her situation. I tell him the story of Wednesday night, and he gives me advice about how to proceed. He suggests that I do not take any form of insolence, regardless of how many classes are left. He further suggests that a good strategy for dealing with unruly children who feed off of each other is to apply a "divide and conquer" approach. I should call them out of the classroom individually. He states they are much more vulnerable and more likely to cease any disrespectful and disruptive behavior afterwards. I thank him for his advice.

I feel like I have another teaching weapon in my arsenal. I can't wait to test it.