Brian+Peace

**Whatcha Gonna Do?**

**__Scenario One__** There goes Matt, sharpening his pencil... again. The noise bugs me and distracts the other students. Also, it takes time from his writing. I mean, he only has ten minutes to complete the assignment. He runs the sharpener, takes the pencil out, examines it, puts it back in, rinse, and repeat ad nauseam. It used to not bother me, but it’s close to the end of the first nine weeks, and his daily ritual is taxing my patience. Did he seriously not know his pencil needed to be sharpened before class started?

Ok. Take a deep breath. Hold. Let it out slowly.

Matt is very hyper and has difficulty sitting still. The prospect of sitting in one place for ten minutes to silently focus on writing has to be a daunting task for him. It could be worse. He could just get up out of his seat and wander two tables over to chat like Zach does in fifth period. He could sit and discuss how “lame this class is” during the silent writing time like Debra from second period. Yeah, he could be much worse.

So he needs to sharpen his pencil as a ritual before sitting down to write. If this form of psyching himself up to take on the challenge helps, then so be it. When I get home from work, I need to kill some pixels on my Xbox 360 before I can even contemplate what to cook for supper. Is that any different? At least he has found a ritual that allows him to succeed. He does sit down to do his work and, while he may need some extra time to accomplish his writing, at least he has the presence of mind to make a solid attempt to do the work. [Good point, Brian. We have to pick our battles; this one might not be worth our concern. If this is the biggest problem that a teacher is having, I'd say they are doing OK. -RR]

__**Scenario Two**__ **Mr. Bragg:** I noticed you kept Suzy after class today. What’s up? Did she give you a bit of her patented attitude? **Mr. Peace:** Sort of. She told me that everyone thinks the class sucks. **Mr. Bragg:** Oh no. What did you do? **Mr. Peace:** Well, you know she is extremely opinionated, right? Well, she’s that way with everyone, even her best friends. So, it’s not a disrespect thing toward me necessarily. It’s that she is a bit too blunt for her own good. **Mr. Bragg:** That’s an understatement. The girl has all the subtlety of a Mack truck. So, did you let her have it? **Mr. Peace:** Nope. I think I have her pegged. She is extremely dramatic and loves the power that having a strong personality gives her. She’s smart, but she doesn’t have much desire to learn. It seems like, for her, being in the classroom brings with it a level of subservience that she simply cannot stomach. In order for her to feel in control of her life, she has to rebel a bit. **Mr. Bragg:** So she needs to be taken down a notch? **Mr. Peace:** Definitely not. It won’t work. Her need for control is at the center of who she is. She’s a natural leader who doesn’t have any idea how to direct her potential. Most everyone who has ever dealt with her has tried to teach her her place, so that is now her impression of how people with power should act. Since she wants power herself, she thinks she needs to put the rest of the world in its place. **Mr. Bragg:** You may be over thinking this. What she needs is to break her need to say everything she thinks when she thinks it. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Peace:** I agree in principal, but not in execution. She can’t be taught how to control her impulsiveness by simply telling her to deal with reality as it’s handed to her. She needs to feel like she has a small amount of control before you can get buy-in from her. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Bragg:** So, what do you suggest? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Peace:** Well, I asked her to have a seat since it was my planning period and give me specifics about her grievances. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Bragg:** Let me guess, she came up with a bunch of petty crap about how much work you give? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Peace:** At first that was all she could come up with. Pretty much the expected list of complaints. I give too much homework. The classwork is too hard. She doesn’t see how she is going to use any of this crap after she graduates. You know, the classics. So I probed a bit more, asking her for details on what I or other teachers have done that she did like. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Bragg:** That must have been a short list. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Peace:** It was. I asked her to give me a list of students to form a classroom committee that she will be the head of. Those students are to work together to build up a list of assignments, activities, etc. that they have liked and why they liked them along with those they did not like and what they did not like about them. I told her that, while I can’t give them control of the classroom, their input was greatly appreciated. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Bragg:** You know they are going to give you a list of complete garbage, right? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Peace:** It’s a distinct possibility, but I printed out the tenth grade standards we have to meet and my lesson plans for last week to give them an idea of what I have to accomplish. I am meeting with them after class tomorrow to give them this information and to give them a behind the scenes glimpse into how much work I have to do in a given week. I am working on an assignment for them that should provide guidelines to help them understand what I need as far as useful feedback. Then I will set up a meeting with them to go over their ideas. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Bragg:** So, you have so little confidence in yourself as a teacher that you need student input to fix the problems in your class? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Peace:** That’s not the point. I’m pretty sure that Suzy is the main instigator in the classroom and her friends are backing her up. What I hope to accomplish is to give her a small feeling of power and to model how people with power can show respect for each other’s opinions, something she has seen precious little of in her life. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Bragg:** I don’t think that giving over control of your class to tenth grader is wise. Aren’t you afraid of giving up that much power to the students? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Peace:** It’s a bit daunting, but I don’t look at it as passing the torch off to the students so they can burn the house down with it. I see it as using my candle to light theirs. As long as I don’t allow my light to be diminished, lighting theirs only spreads the illumination. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Bragg:** Very philosophical. Let me know how it goes when they use their proverbial candles to set fire to your classroom. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Mr. Peace:** Oh, ye of little faith. [Nice, Brian. I like it. -RR]

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">***