“But” in a Middle School Classroom
Last year in my classroom I spent entirely too much time debating discipline decisions with students. They were constatntly saying “but” and I felt that I always had to answer them. I lost hours of teaching time to answering “why” and “but” questions. I felt and still feel that trust is essential in a classroom. I answer all questions that are not related to classroom discipline, but I never answer the “but” and “why” questions. I especially never answer question when students ask about the differences between how I treat them and how I treat others. I tell all students that I will happily discuss management decisions with them on their own time…at lunch or before or after school. If it is really important the student will come to me at that time. So far not many students have taken me up on it. It is amazing to me how much time this action has freed up in the classroom.
Not allowing students to question management decisions in class means that I can focus more on the learning objective. The students understand that the class “mission” is the only thing we will be talking about in class and that nothing is as important as what we are learning. I enjoy my classes more this way.
What decisions do you make that protect your learning time and environment in your classroom??
Filed under: Middle School Science, Safety, Science and tagged "why", discipline, management
Leave a Reply