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>>
>>> What I was speaking to directly was that sort of
>>> negative energy relished by the fashion mag OP and a
>>> few of her first responders - 'I took away the
>>> student's magazines and used them for mulch, and then
>>> her mom came in and MAJORLY SHAMED AND PUNISHED HER.

What did the mom coming in do about the negative energy? I get
that now this kid doesn't bring fashion mags out anymore
but how did this get rid of the negative energy? Indeed, some
kids do relish negative energy and they embrace conflict with
teachers but taking away their tools doesn't get rid of the
negative energy.
Nor does a Mom coming in and shaming a kid in that way - that
would only create even more negative energy.

Of course there are some kids who would turn and say "Ms. Smith
means business. She called my Mom and my Mom came... " but that
requires that a kid and a Mom have a decent relationship - by no
means is that true for all kids and Moms.

It's a Happy Teacher Story - it's got that edge of hey, we still
have our mojo - all we need is parents to back us up. And if
that works, that's great. I haven't made a parent phone call in
15 years and it's done wonders for my classroom. I pretend I
don't have a principal ( I wish I didn't) and it's me and them.
When I raised my own two kids, I didn't have a principal backing
me up. I had to do it on my own and I do it on my own without
parents or principals in my classroom.

Why did you give the magazines back??? I understand giving them
back the first time but when they gave you a rough time handing
them over the second time - why did you give them back? You
invited this conflict with these kids - don't get me wrong, I'm
not trying to place blame but let's thing about what could be
done differently.

There's a lot to this story that doesn't make good sense - sorry.
You made mistakes here and you needed backup. You're trying to
put this out as a victory but it wasn't - you had to call for
reinforcements because of the mistakes you made.

1. Where's the negative energy coming from and why? The magazines
are just a tool - they don't create the negative energy. Why are
these kids looking to create that in your classroom? You can't
stifle negative energy - it's poison and I don't hear you doing
anything about it but celebrating that the mother came in with a
whole boatload of more negative energy.

2. Unless of course you're going for the kind of classroom that's
seething, quiet negative energy - so long as you all sit still
and be quiet, we can mutually hate each other in the quiet.
That's fine but nobody's learning anything in that kind of
negative energy but then nobody's getting beat up either and in
some schools sadly you've got to settle for that. I'd say I'm
sorry you're in that kind of school but...

3. You must teach in a pretty interesting in between kind of
school really - in some schools doing what you did would get your
tires slashed on a good day and one angry teenage girl coming at
you the next day when slashing your tires hadn't expelled enough
of her negative energy. You're clearly not going for a learning
environment but your kids can be sufficiently controlled - with
parent help - to sit still.

4. You might not be in the right school yet because it doesn't
sound like you like teaching - or your kids - though tough
teenage girls with attitude can be tough to take.
5.Good luck with it all.

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