"older" teacher-need suggestions for discipline issues

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Classroom Discipline Chatboard

"older" teacher-need suggestions for discipline issues

by Maria

Sep 1, 2011

I want to preface this post by saying that I hope this does not offend anyone. I am a female teacher in my late 40s who is also obese. I am losing weight but it is difficult. I never had classroom management issues until I turned 45 and gained weight. I'd rather not state what subject I teach but I will say it is a 9-12 grade environment with about 75% male students and 25% female.

I strive to make lessons interesting and sometimes humorous. I have been in other younger and /or "in shape" teacher's classrooms and feel that their lessons are not as interesting. In fact, sometimes they lecture all period which I was told NEVER to do. But they seem to have a much better control of their classrooms, especially the younger male teachers. It seems the male students are more "afraid" of the younger males and the females think they are attractive or look up to them like an older brother. I cannot help but think that it is human nature that the students will listen better and be more l...See More

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Sara On 9/01/11, Maria wrote: > Thank you for your thoughtful response, Sara

Buy felt and cut it into seat size squares and tape it to the bottom of the chairs. Sound bounces and as it bounces it magnifies, it essentially echoes. Felt absorbs the bouncing sound waves that are their voices and softens the sound of the voices. Curtains, real c...See MoreOn 9/01/11, Maria wrote: > Thank you for your thoughtful response, Sara

Buy felt and cut it into seat size squares and tape it to the bottom of the chairs. Sound bounces and as it bounces it magnifies, it essentially echoes. Felt absorbs the bouncing sound waves that are their voices and softens the sound of the voices. Curtains, real curtains can help too but few of us have them in any classroom.

We all digress - it's impossible not to but it doesn't get the work done. So when they say "We are talking about the lesson" the next question is "why are you talking about the lesson when I am?" > > > >

> > Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas. I appreciate them all. I > have sometimes said, "Why are you talking when I am talking?" and the > reply I get from students is often, "We are talking about the lesson." > > Please understand...my students are mostly really GREAT kids, they are > just very talkative and addicted to their phones. I do think the younger > male teachers have an "edge" over me because of the reasons I already > outlined and the younger females also have an "edge." What I need to do > is figure out how to have an "edge" over these younger teachers. Part of > me wants to be honest with the kids and say, "Hey I know I am fat, old > and ugly but I will try and do whatever I can to help you achieve your > goals in this class." > > > >>> I do not teach a subject that lends itself to discussion of the >>> type that you mention. I do tell them that I am passionate about >>> the subject and that I will give them every chance I can to >>> succeed, work with them, etc. >> >> They do seem to respond well to that >>> but it does not seem to change the fact that they seem to think I >>> am invisible. >> >> If they responded well, then - at least for that moment - they were >> listening. They listened to your introduction but then stopped >> listening when the textbooks came out? >>> >>> This problem has not been going on for years. In fact, my >>> evaluations are stellar. I have been applauded by past >>> administrators for having excellent lessons and management skills. >>> This seems to have started to happen about 4 years ago...around >>> the same time that students started to carry cell phones to school >>> all the time. I have been teaching for 13 years. >>> >> >> This then suggests it's not your age or appearance - being in your >> 40s is not that old... I'm much older and many teachers teach through >> to retirement age. This post is different from your first. This post >> suggests that it's cell phones that are the problem or that cell >> problems invited the latent problem to emerge. >> >> If it's cell phones that are the problem, you can do what one of my >> colleague does - he asks that all cell phones go into a bin at the >> front of the room. He goes BALLISTIC then if he sees anyone bring out >> a cell phone. Another colleague tells them to put their cell phones >> on the floor under their chairs which I think is better because then >> you can see that everyone has one and he too goes BALLISTIC if he >> then sees anyone with a cell phone in their hand having told them to >> put them under their desk on the floor. >> >> You can tell parents things at Open House and parents can in good >> sincerity follow up and talk you up positively at home but when push >> comes to shove, the parents aren't in the room. American culture has >> evidenced an increasing distrust of authority and increasing >> resistance to the old ways and that includes parents. My husband once >> told our son he would be in Big Trouble if we heard he was calling >> out in health class anymore so our son taped his own mouth shut >> before every health class but - he was all of 10 years old - by the >> time they're teenagers they're saying "yeah, yeah, sure" when parents >> say things like "Ms. Davis has a wealth of teaching experience and is >> very tech saavy so be sure to listen up in her class." >> >> Yeah, yeah, sure. >> >> In any case, you seem to think now it's cell phones that are the root >> of the problem, root them out then. I never take a cell phone away - >> around here a teacher literally had their neck broken by a student >> when he did that and I would never want anyone to take my cell phone >> from me. But I too say 'no cell phones' and for the most part, I >> don't see them out. >> >> Have you said "no cell phones." When you see them with their cell >> phones, what do you say? What do they say when you ask? Tell them "I >> don't mean 'no cell phones' when I'm looking at you - I mean 'no cell >> phones in class.'" >> >> If you ask - "why are you talking when I'm talking?" what do they >> say? No administration can mind that question. >> >> >>> I do like your suggestion about having an honest talk with them >>> because that is the style of my personality. I am not sure what >>> Administration will think of it. But, the past two years I did >>> tell parents at Open House that I needed their cooperation to try >>> and explain to their kids that just because I am older than most >>> teachers does not mean I am clueless. I have a wealth of >>> experience to offer them and I am VERY tech-savvy. Parents >>> applaud/clap when I say this so at least they like that honesty. >>> >>> On 9/01/11, Sara wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> Your post isn't offensive to anyone and I hope you don't take >>>> offense to my response. Classroom management is a particular >>>> challenge these days - restless and unhappy kids, kids used to >>>> flicking a channel at the first flicker of boredom, a general >>>> willingness to question seeming authority - all of those things >>>> make managing and controlling a room full of hormonal young >>>> people with energy to burn particularly difficult. >>>> >>>> You've put your finger on an issue that adds to the difficulty >>>> which is that yes, young and handsome men get a kind of >>>> automatic certain respect. Big, tall men with booming voices >>>> have a certain advantage too. As women we have a special >>>> challenge. As an obese person, you have an extra challenge. >>>> >>>> And I'd agree with you again by saying I have seen many >>>> classrooms where the class is totally boring but yet the >>>> teacher has control. I marvel at those classrooms and those >>>> teachers who can keep control despite the totally boring class >>>> material they're using. >>>> >>>> If I take you at your word and your material is interesting and >>>> well-presented and the kids just still blow it off - I'd say, >>>> if you possibly can, speak to them directly, honestly. If you >>>> teach a subject that lends itself to discussion - health, >>>> history, literature - you could link the discussion to your >>>> class material. "The disregarded peoples of society" and those >>>> of different appearance are certainly on that list and you have >>>> a different appearance. >>>> >>>> But I'd also say - these are near extreme issues you're having. >>>> Of course they're not just getting up and walking out or >>>> throwing the smaller kids out the window. But shy of that, it >>>> sounds like you've got almost no control at all. And this has >>>> been going on for how many years? Or is this year a new low? >>>> >>>> The 'main management problems' you mention are basically >>>> everything. When you talk, they talk, when you write on the >>>> board, they text, when you instruct, they ignore... what's left >>>> really? I'd say you have to do something drastic - they're not >>>> open to your interesting lessons. Get angry, not furious but >>>> have a 'stop everything moment' and tell them that you >>>> understand that school is a sore trial - they have to sit still >>>> all day and in uncomfortable chairs at that (they are) but that >>>> powers greater than all of you decided that America's young >>>> people would be housed daily in schools until they've served 12 >>>> years plus kindergarten." Then I'd ask - how can we make the >>>> best of it? Is it because I'm obese that you all seem to try so >>>> hard to avoid my teaching?" >>>> >>>> They'll be surprised for sure... >>>> >>>> And if they open up and talk your ego might take a bit of >>>> bruising because many people in our increasingly obese country >>>> see obesity as willful. Some of them will see you as asking >>>> responsibility of them while living an irresponsible life yourself. >>>> It's not my intention to offend you. Good luck. >>>>> >>>>> I am wondering if anyone can give me suggestions on how to >>>>> deal with this? The main management problems I have are 1) >>>>> students constantly trying to get out their phones to text >>>>> when I am not looking, 2) talking when I am giving a lesson, >>>>> 3) completely ignoring me when I am giving out instructions, >>>>> 4) forcing me to talk loudly because they just will not >>>>> quiet down, 5) not working unless I am standing right over >>>>> them. Again...it is not my intent to offend anyone. Thank >>>>> you in advance. >>>>>

Sep 1, 2011

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Ben 1. You can't stop the textng and the cell phones any more than teachers could stop the "Game Boys" when they came out in 1990. You can try confiscating them and sending the kid to the Principal if he/she refuses to hand it over, but that can lead to disruptive fights with the kid. You need to make the lesson more active by giving them work to do th...See More1. You can't stop the textng and the cell phones any more than teachers could stop the "Game Boys" when they came out in 1990. You can try confiscating them and sending the kid to the Principal if he/she refuses to hand it over, but that can lead to disruptive fights with the kid. You need to make the lesson more active by giving them work to do that will take all period. If they'd rather text than work, they'll fail. If they can text and still get all the work done, leave it at that. If the kid is texting and failing the class, you need to contact the parent and say "your kid is failing because he/she is not producing." Leave the parent to decide what they want from their child.

2. Never talk over anyone, you'll make yourself hoarse. Put the insrtuctions on the board, and make the work "group based" so talking will be part of the activity anyway.

3. Ignoring you? Well if they fail, you still get your paycheck.

4. Refer to #3

5. I never hover over the kids. I make sweeping rounds of the room to see how they are progressing.

111On 9/01/11, Maria wrote: > I want to preface this post by saying that I hope this does > not offend anyone. I am a female teacher in my late 40s who > is also obese. I am losing weight but it is difficult. I > never had classroom management issues until I turned 45 and > gained weight. I'd rather not state what subject I teach but > I will say it is a 9-12 grade environment with about 75% > male students and 25% female. > > I strive to make lessons interesting and sometimes humorous. > I have been in other younger and /or "in shape" teacher's > classrooms and feel that their lessons are not as > interesting. In fact, sometimes they lecture all period > which I was told NEVER to do. But they seem to have a much > better control of their classrooms, especially the younger > male teachers. It seems the male students are more "afraid" > of the younger males and the females think they are > attractive or look up to them like an older brother. I > cannot help but think that it is human nature that the > students will listen better and be more likely to follow > directions. They also seem to get more out of the students > than I do. > > I am wondering if anyone can give me suggestions on how to > deal with this? The main management problems I have are 1) > students constantly trying to get out their phones to text > when I am not looking, 2) talking when I am giving a lesson, > 3) completely ignoring me when I am giving out instructions, > 4) forcing me to talk loudly because they just will not > quiet down, 5) not working unless I am standing right over > them. Again...it is not my intent to offend anyone. Thank > you in advance. >

Sep 3, 2011

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Ethel B. Gulfan On 9/03/11, Ben wrote: > 1. You can't stop the textng and the cell phones any more than > teachers could stop the "Game Boys" when they came out in > 1990. You can try confiscating them and sending the kid to the > Principal if he/she refuses to hand it over, but that can lead > to disruptive fights with the kid. > You need to mak...See MoreOn 9/03/11, Ben wrote: > 1. You can't stop the textng and the cell phones any more than > teachers could stop the "Game Boys" when they came out in > 1990. You can try confiscating them and sending the kid to the > Principal if he/she refuses to hand it over, but that can lead > to disruptive fights with the kid. > You need to make the lesson more active by giving them work to > do that will take all period. If they'd rather text than work, > they'll fail. If they can text and still get all the work > done, leave it at that. > If the kid is texting and failing the class, you need to > contact the parent and say "your kid is failing because he/she > is not producing." Leave the parent to decide what they want > from their child. > > 2. Never talk over anyone, you'll make yourself hoarse. Put > the insrtuctions on the board, and make the work "group based" > so talking will be part of the activity anyway. > > 3. Ignoring you? Well if they fail, you still get your > paycheck. > > 4. Refer to #3 > > 5. I never hover over the kids. I make sweeping rounds of the > room to see how they are progressing. > > > > > > > 111On 9/01/11, Maria wrote: >> I want to preface this post by saying that I hope this does >> not offend anyone. I am a female teacher in my late 40s who >> is also obese. I am losing weight but it is difficult. I >> never had classroom management issues until I turned 45 and >> gained weight. I'd rather not state what subject I teach but >> I will say it is a 9-12 grade environment with about 75% >> male students and 25% female. >> >> I strive to make lessons interesting and sometimes humorous. >> I have been in other younger and /or "in shape" teacher's >> classrooms and feel that their lessons are not as >> interesting. In fact, sometimes they lecture all period >> which I was told NEVER to do. But they seem to have a much >> better control of their classrooms, especially the younger >> male teachers. It seems the male students are more "afraid" >> of the younger males and the females think they are >> attractive or look up to them like an older brother. I >> cannot help but think that it is human nature that the >> students will listen better and be more likely to follow >> directions. They also seem to get more out of the students >> than I do. >> >> I am wondering if anyone can give me suggestions on how to >> deal with this? The main management problems I have are 1) >> students constantly trying to get out their phones to text >> when I am not looking, 2) talking when I am giving a lesson, >> 3) completely ignoring me when I am giving out instructions, >> 4) forcing me to talk loudly because they just will not >> quiet down, 5) not working unless I am standing right over >> them. Again...it is not my intent to offend anyone. Thank >> you in advance. >>

Oct 27, 2011

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Homely Teacher At the risk of playing internet psychologist, and hoping not to offend you, from your posts in this thread it sounds like you're not currently very happy with yourself. Is it possible that the kids are responding more to a lack of self-confidence, than to your actual physical appearance? It's true that being physically attractive can be an advantag...See MoreAt the risk of playing internet psychologist, and hoping not to offend you, from your posts in this thread it sounds like you're not currently very happy with yourself. Is it possible that the kids are responding more to a lack of self-confidence, than to your actual physical appearance? It's true that being physically attractive can be an advantage, but I have definitely seen handsome but ineffectual people get walked on by students. I think it's more about projecting an aura of strength and decisiveness than about the way a person looks, although the way a person looks can help or hinder their ability to project that image. I'm not a classical beauty myself, but I've found that if I ACT like I'm 100% awesome (without getting too egotistical, haha), people tend to respond well to that regardless of the reality. Psych yourself up. Walk with confidence. Mind your posture. Speak out clearly and declaratively, with a smile.

Good luck :)

On 9/01/11, Maria wrote: > I want to preface this post by saying that I hope this does > not offend anyone. I am a female teacher in my late 40s who > is also obese. I am losing weight but it is difficult. I > never had classroom management issues until I turned 45 and > gained weight. I'd rather not state what subject I teach but > I will say it is a 9-12 grade environment with about 75% > male students and 25% female. > > I strive to make lessons interesting and sometimes humorous. > I have been in other younger and /or "in shape" teacher's > classrooms and feel that their lessons are not as > interesting. In fact, sometimes they lecture all period > which I was told NEVER to do. But they seem to have a much > better control of their classrooms, especially the younger > male teachers. It seems the male students are more "afraid" > of the younger males and the females think they are > attractive or look up to them like an older brother. I > cannot help but think that it is human nature that the > students will listen better and be more likely to follow > directions. They also seem to get more out of the students > than I do. > > I am wondering if anyone can give me suggestions on how to > deal with this? The main management problems I have are 1) > students constantly trying to get out their phones to text > when I am not looking, 2) talking when I am giving a lesson, > 3) completely ignoring me when I am giving out instructions, > 4) forcing me to talk loudly because they just will not > quiet down, 5) not working unless I am standing right over > them. Again...it is not my intent to offend anyone. Thank > you in advance. >

Dec 10, 2011

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Martin In response to the original post, I have to say that (I don't know if my age and gender matter) I have subbed as a para and worked as a full-time teacher around other teachers and many were what would be considered morbidly obese. I subbed as a sped para for one teacher who had to be close to 500 pounds. She called in sick virtually every other day...See MoreIn response to the original post, I have to say that (I don't know if my age and gender matter) I have subbed as a para and worked as a full-time teacher around other teachers and many were what would be considered morbidly obese. I subbed as a sped para for one teacher who had to be close to 500 pounds. She called in sick virtually every other day, left convoluted lesson plans that no substitute could ever decipher and 90 percent of the time the kids listened to her. But she did no teaching to speak of, just always correcting behavior; her teaching consisted of printing up pages from superteaherworksheets.com, making copies of them, putting them in a binder and just tracking their scores on the sheets.

When she was absent, her kids routinely broke chairs, broke televisions and players, even a desk once, would wander the halls, beat each other regularly; and she was able to control them when she was present. The administration loved her, and she was constantly either out sick, "in a meeting" where she could not be found, and working on a higher level qualification.

So...I doubt her weight made any difference to the administration at that school one way or the other.

On 12/10/11, Homely Teacher wrote: > At the risk of playing internet psychologist, and hoping not to > offend you, from your posts in this thread it sounds like > you're not currently very happy with yourself. Is it possible > that the kids are responding more to a lack of self-confidence, > than to your actual physical appearance? It's true that being > physically attractive can be an advantage, but I have > definitely seen handsome but ineffectual people get walked on > by students. I think it's more about projecting an aura of > strength and decisiveness than about the way a person looks, > although the way a person looks can help or hinder their > ability to project that image. I'm not a classical beauty > myself, but I've found that if I ACT like I'm 100% awesome > (without getting too egotistical, haha), people tend to respond > well to that regardless of the reality. Psych yourself up. > Walk with confidence. Mind your posture. Speak out clearly > and declaratively, with a smile. > > Good luck :) > > On 9/01/11, Maria wrote: >> I want to preface this post by saying that I hope this does >> not offend anyone. I am a female teacher in my late 40s who >> is also obese. I am losing weight but it is difficult. I >> never had classroom management issues until I turned 45 and >> gained weight. I'd rather not state what subject I teach but >> I will say it is a 9-12 grade environment with about 75% >> male students and 25% female. >> >> I strive to make lessons interesting and sometimes humorous. >> I have been in other younger and /or "in shape" teacher's >> classrooms and feel that their lessons are not as >> interesting. In fact, sometimes they lecture all period >> which I was told NEVER to do. But they seem to have a much >> better control of their classrooms, especially the younger >> male teachers. It seems the male students are more "afraid" >> of the younger males and the females think they are >> attractive or look up to them like an older brother. I >> cannot help but think that it is human nature that the >> students will listen better and be more likely to follow >> directions. They also seem to get more out of the students >> than I do. >> >> I am wondering if anyone can give me suggestions on how to >> deal with this? The main management problems I have are 1) >> students constantly trying to get out their phones to text >> when I am not looking, 2) talking when I am giving a lesson, >> 3) completely ignoring me when I am giving out instructions, >> 4) forcing me to talk loudly because they just will not >> quiet down, 5) not working unless I am standing right over >> them. Again...it is not my intent to offend anyone. Thank >> you in advance. >>

Dec 24, 2011

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