Yesterday, a student got the short end of the stick in my classroom. Specifics are inappropriate, but suffice it to say that, during a collaboration exercise in our classroom, I kept hearing over my shoulder noise that appeared completely unrelated to the exercise coming from one student group. Eventually I asked the apparent offender to step outside. For students who have persistent issues with impulse control, a momentary "step out" is often enough to allow the class activity to move forward, and to allow the student a moment to "re-set" before continuing.
When I retrieved the accused, it was almost time for class to be over. I sat down with his group, and discussed the incident. I told them I had been telling others how proud I am of the progress the class had made this year and that I expected them to do what they were capable of doing without disruption. At the beginning of the school year this student, who genuinely struggles with staying on-task, a would have hung his head and felt like a big loser. Yesterday, he made eye contact with me, and calmly, respectfully and with dignity advocated for himself, explaining exactly what he had been doing and how I had misconstrued the situation. I apologized to him and to his group for jumping to the wrong conclusion, discussed the responsibility of all to keep the standard high during group work, and reminded them how proud I am of them. No apparent hard feelings.
Junior high students are in a "no man's land" between elementary school and high school. They have a broad range of developmental maturity, and within a given week may display a varying capacities for self-control, depending on the context and peer group. At the same time, they are often alternately needlessly hard on themselves and unbelievably clueless. They can exhibit the sensitivity of a brick, or tenderness and empathy beyond their years. Our journey has taken us from those first days — when this student could barely get to the right class with the right materials — to where we are today, where he was able to respond to an unjust charge from an authority figure in the most appropriate and thoughtful way.
I love the content I teach. At this level, however, the most important things for students to take out of the classroom are probably practical skills that will benefit them as they move forward with their education and their lives. His knowledge of The Great War will never help this student navigate a complication with his professor in college or with his future boss, but learning to have calm, productive discussions with someone when his performance is questioned will. Sometimes students grow because of us, and sometimes they grow in spite of us. At any rate, his stock really went up with me yesterday, and in the future, I'll be less reactive and more thoughtful with other students because of his maturity. After all, a classroom is a community, and a rising tide lifts all boats.
