The Easy Way or the Hard Way

The experience that I want to share is regarding two of my students that like to play fight and can sometimes be too rowdy and rough during the beginning of the class period before the bell rings and we all settle down.  These boys are great friends and are constantly talking to each other and being normal, happy, social kids.  However, sometimes they can get carried away and become too rambunctious inside the classroom.  This is normally just horseplay and other types of goofing off that is easily corrected when I address them.  The issue, however, is not that they don’t listen when I correct their behavior, but that the behavior was happening too frequently.  Every time that I corrected it, they would listen and get back to work, but then fall right back into the same thing next class.  I cannot count how many times I have said to them “you know, guys, one day someone or something is going to get hurt.” This was becoming such a common occurrence that I had even spoken to parents.  About two weeks ago, the two boys learned a difficult lesson when they were goofing around once again until one of them slipped and fell onto another student’s laptop, crushing and breaking it beyond repair.  They have not engaged in any horseplay since.  What I really learned personally from this is that I really need to trust my instincts in addressing seemingly minor issues more seriously and earlier before they escalate into other problems.  It is so easy to get caught up and overwhelmed with many other issues that seem bigger, that I can sometimes push the simpler issues off.  I really want to work on a better way to more formally address these minor problems in hopes of preventing something like this from happening again. 

I like to think I have done a good job at creating a nurturing and personalized learning environment for my students.  I have offered them many ways to explore the content and also offer them many options for completing work when it comes to learning activities and activity formats.  I also love including assignments that incorporate student choice that allows them to work in their own preferences and make the activities more unique to them.  For example, one of my favorite projects to do is an assignment that has students select somewhere in the continental US and create a linear function to model the cost of the trip by the base cost and cost per mile.  I allow them to make a presentation on where they would want to travel, and also have them substantiate their base cost with road trip essentials like snack and music costs.  They definitely demonstrate more engagement when I offer activities like this where they can become more invested and experience better learning as a result.