"Shut up" "You're stupid" "This is dumb"

I think I gained a new super power through my experience student teaching. That super power isn't the ability to shoot spider webs from my hand, nor is it the ability to move things with my mind. No, my super power super hearing. I often hear my students say extremely negative and hurtful things to one another. The most typical phrases I hear are: "shut up", "you're stupid", "you're gay" and etc. Students say this stuff to each other EVERYDAY. I hear it, even when I am not listening for it. I do not believe students have malicious intent when they say these types of things to one another. I do not believe they consider their friend, or someone else could easily be offended by the words they speak.  

When I hear students use negative phrases to one another I generally ask them to not use the language again because it can be offensive. Well, asking does not appear to be doing much. A few days ago I was teaching an intervention course and one of the students continued to say "shut up" or "you're stupid" to his table mate. After asking him to discontinue saying those words he continued to do so. I was a little frustrated at this point. I begin to wonder a few things:

1. How much will this problem escalate?

2. How much more class time will this continue to waste? - Things obviously aren't working.

3. How can I get him to be respectful to his peer?

After hearing this student utter another "you're", I turned to him and sternly said, "I do not want to hear this again. You are being disrespectful to your peer." I did not ask, I told. After I got his attention through sterner voice I then proceeded, "You need to say something positive about your peer instead of something negative." This proved to be effective. The student was a little thrown off his game. I don't think he has ever been asked to say something directly positive as a result of negative behavior. After he thought a moment he replied and said, "Student A is nice." 

I hope to try to employ this tactic other situations. I often hear students have negative attitudes about their day, a class, etc. I think I will ask them to say a few positive things, to help put the brighter side into perspective. 

I am not sure how effective this method will prove next class. I am willing to try it again if the situation arises. 

Things are going well in my other classes. We are finally finished with Kaffir Boy. I really enjoyed this unit, but after all of the snow days, things were way too extended. Students were able to write a 3-5 page essay over character traits the author exhibited. Students absolutely ROCKED this essay. Many of these students openly said they have never written so much in a paper. I am not sure if I should feel proud that they were able to accomplish this or if I should feel a little like the Wicked Witch of the West for having them strain their fingers and minds so much ; ). Each day we worked on the essay I provided a little piece of paper with the day's goals on it. By the end of the class period the student should ideally have the goal completed. This visual really help pace students. Many students placed the visual card on their keyboard or on their monitor. I will definitely use this technique for my future students. While students were working in the PC lab I was able to work with them one on one. I absolutely loved getting that personal time with each student. I went around the room one student at a time and looked over their paper and gave advice or answered any questions they had. 

I am at the grading point right now. It is hard grading student essays. I don't mean the process of reading and assessing is hard. I mean simply cranking out one paper after the other. I typically make comments and correct minor grammatical errors on every paper. They add up!! I am enjoying the overall process. It is wonderful seeing the connections the students made and how diverse they can be with the same prompt. I am proud of them. 

If I had any doubt that teaching was not the profession for me, it has long since vanished.

Happy teaching!

Ms. Hays