In teaching, as in anything else, there are good days, bad days, then there are days that are just different. Last Friday was one of those days.
I have a class that, behaviour wise, is not my favourite class to teach. It has been a struggle for me to find ways to manage the class in a way that everyone is learning the material. I only teach them once a week, and that is part of the difficulty; building any rapport with them has been difficult.
However, on Friday, at the start of the class they all quieted down much quicker than normal and I made a comment about it and smiled. The remarks they made next shocked me: "Did you see that? Sir smiled;" "He must be having a good day; he smiled."
I stopped and asked them if they really thought I never smiled. I realized that despite trying all of the classroom management techniques I know, I never just stopped and had a laugh with them.
I have decided (and I told them this) that I would be focusing on positive behaviour so that they can see a better side of me. I will send positive postcards home and Respect cards to their form tutors, as opposed to the negative referrals that have been far too common.
There was one other comment that added to the strangeness of the day. Apparently to a group of year sevens, I am "the teacher with the good hair." -- that gave me a good laugh!
