Class Room Management

The class was hard to handle and I called the deans more times than I was comfortable with, but, I was at my wits end and needed help.

At the end of the semester I went to the head of security and apologized for calling so often.  He told me not to worry.  Every student I had called about had a file two inches thick in his office.  He said I called less than other teachers and I actually had done a good job dealing with them.

My AP did not agree.  He never stopped letting me know how bad I was at classroom management and to this day, 4 years after I retired, still takes time from department conferences to remind the staff of how awful I was.

I learned never to call him.  Several years later I had another hard to handle class.  This time I went to the Principal for help.  After paying the class a short visit he told me some of the students were incorrigible.  Of course, to my AP, I was at fault again.

Another teacher in the department had a rough class.  She went on sabbatical and he gave the class to a new teacher.  But, before handing over the class, he removed the 3 biggest trouble makers.  The class was well behaved and he never stopped telling everyone how the new teacher did what the experienced teacher could not do.  He never even considered removing students for the old timer.

Judge teachers, but judge them fairly.  Realize some kids are just going to do the wrong thing and no one can stop that.  Stop stacking class and stop blaming teachers for things they cannot control.