find room for teacher judgment even under the strictest regime. However, sometimes a par-
ticular school or district may be the wrong place for you to work.
When student teachers and new teachers are extremely nervous about managing class-
room problems, I have a couple of “props” that I offer them for help. Remember, by the time
they are in your secondary school class, students have been in school for between 7 and 12
years. They know the rules for proper classroom behavior. In fact, the only one who is un-
certain about the rules is probably you. That is why teenagers are sometimes “playing you”
for all it is worth. It is an entertaining part of the schoolhouse game. What the props do is
help you to remember that you are the teacher and in charge of the class. You decide what
happens. The best weapons in your arsenal are your teacher voice and body language.You
have to learn how to say it like you mean it.
My three best props for building up your confidence are a jar of “M” or “mean” pills, to
help build up your fortitude (really M & Ms); an Incredible Hulk T-shirt that warns students,
“Don’t Make Me Angry, You Won’t Like Me When I’m Angry”; and a silver wand, topped by a
star and covered by glitter (à la Harry Potter) that you can wave around the room to get at-
tention. Very few student teachers or new teachers have ever borrowed the props, but I
think just the idea of them help people gain perspective on what is happening in classes.
With all of these reservations in mind, I will present school situations that happened ei-
ther to me or to members of the New Teachers Network and my ideas for responding. Ra-
chel Gaglione (whose responses are in italics) also offers ideas on some of the situations from
her perspective as a younger female teacher working in a middle school classroom. Please
remember that these situations and responses involvechoicesandjudgments. We are not
offering rules for behavior.
I divided the examples into four categories: classroom problems, guidance-related issues,
relationships with colleagues, and conflicts with school policies. I recommend writing down
your own ideas before comparing them with ours. After finishing, you need to JOIN THE
CONVERSATION and discuss what you remember about your own experience as a student
and adolescent, and your approach to “classroom and other professional problems.”
JOIN THE CONVERSATION—THINGS TO REMEMBER
FROM ALAN’S BIG BAG OF TEACHER TRICKS·The only one you can control is you.
·Never take what students do “personally.”
·You can be both firm and caring.
·Remember the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear or your own variant.
·If you can, wait before deciding what to do. Give yourself a chance to relax and think.
·To quote Mary Poppins, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
·Once you have their attention, get softer.
·You can always suck your teeth or shrug your shoulders, and walk away from a situ-
ation.
·Try to ease up a bit. Laugh at yourself. There is always tomorrow (Oh no!)Questions to Consider:- By this point you have read a long way into this book and thought quite a bit about
your own views on teaching practice. How do you react to these tips? Why?
2.What would you add to the list? What would you take away? Explain.
168 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS FOR BOOK II