Watching myself teach 2

My eighth grade math class, starting at the end of June, became a difficult bunch.  All of the teachers were having trouble managing this mob of lovable mischief-makers.  I filmed myself again this past Tuesday as I desperately tried a new maneuver, “Operation: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”

The plan was simple.  The class had three check marks.  If they were cooperative and on-task as a class, they would keep the check marks on the board, and at the end of the class I would reward them each with a small bag of chips from the “bold mix” assortment that I found at Walmart.  In addition, when they were working in groups, the groups that were most on-task when I came around to them would be the first to choose chips.  This last point is a big deal, because there are some more desirable flavors in the “bold mix,” such as Flamin’ Hot Cheetohs. The first groups would pick these out of the assortment straight away.

This was a big change for our class.  Previously we had tried the three-check system for a class punishment: if they lost all three check marks, there would be a pop quiz.  I don’t recommend it for standard practice, unless you’re sure that the quiz will not be a tremendous penalty to those well-behaved students who are struggling in your class.  It did more harm to their grades than good to the class’s conduct, and any good it did there was soon undone by sentiments of mutual antagonism that necessarily follow when a teacher hands back a graded pop quiz.  The new three-check system, complete with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, was supposed to be familiar enough that the students would readily see how it works, yet contrastive enough to erase the animosity created by the previous system. 

“Operation: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos” was mostly successful.  There was considerably less chatter; they moved into groups smoothly and without fuss; some of the groups worked more diligently than I had come to expect; and they were jazzed up for the next period, also with me, and the prospect of another bag of chips.  (Suckers.) The down side to the “Operation” is that it cost me $20, it’s not exactly heathy, and it’s not something that the students could count on for future classes.  Oh well.  It was worth a try.

My performance on tape was about the same as last time.  I have a formidable “teacher presence”: I know how to loom, in most senses of the verb.  I carried a clipboard around with me and scribbled on it from time to time to keep the students guessing about how attentive I was to their shenanigans. All of this works for keeping them on track.  So the video wasn’t so scary to watch.

But it was scary to listen to: one thing still missing from my teacher persona is an effective voice.  My voice is so stringy and effeminate.  I have no idea how to solve this one.  In lieu of posturing and trying to fake a deep, booming, manly voice, I think I need to sidestep it somehow during the school year—maybe make fun of myself as often as possible.  I don’t know.

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Comments

[Rédigé par : Laura Jones]

I love this post for two reasons: 1. I am struggling with the idea of handing out food/candy myself and 2. its bold and honest.

I think handing out junk food is wrong, but it works.  They understand the language of Flamin Cheetos and will work towards them.  I have blogged about my struggle with food in the classroom but in sum, its just not a battle that I want to fight right now.  Hopefully year two or three I will have better classroom management so I don't have to bribe my class.  So don't get down on yourself too much for trying it out!

And I also love how you fully admit that your don't have a strong voice and you don't know what to do about it.  I have no advice.  Perhaps, there will come a day when you are so fired up that out of no where, you find your voice.  Not sure if that is at all comforting.

[Rédigé par : Bill]

Glad to hear operation flamin hot Cheetos went well!  I taught the one day in 8th grade math and that was insanely difficult.  That experience will certainly pay off in the fall when our strategies may repeatedly fail.  The important part though is to continue to push on try new strategies.  MARCH ON CHRISTIAN SOLDIER!

[Rédigé par : mmv]

As someone who watched "operation flaming hot cheetos" I am inspired to sing the praises of using rewards to reset the tone in a classroom that had a lot of negative habits building. I know we talked about this with Dani, but it was still so powerful to see in action. You did an excellent job of presenting the new 'modus operendi' with out dwelling on the negative reasons that we had to implement something new in the first place. It offered the kids a change of pace, a chance to forget their own failings and the feelings of being punished... and hey... bribery is effective, necessity/desire the mother of invention.

[Rédigé par : Pippa]

I'm not sure how helpful this example will be, but for what it's worth: the best teacher at my high school (not low-achieving, but plenty of dumb jock goof-offs) was a small, skinny older man named Mr. Wendell. He had kind of a high, nasal voice but everyone paid attention. At the hazy distance of 6 years, here's what I remember: He was funny, but he never made fun of himself (In my experience, it's often hard to respect a teacher who mocks himself; maybe I'm odd.). He had good visual aids (in his case, flannel maps of his own invention where he could place velcro labels and buttons). And he had these little plastic discs that he would hand out to students who answered questions and participated. At the end of class there was some deal where you brought up your discs to give back to him, and for every 3 that you had you got an extra credit point.