If I’m good from now, will you let me off?
I know I was bad, I know I shouted,
I know I threw that ruler across the room
And I know I called Jamie a prick.
I know I didn’t do as I was told,
But I promise I’ll be good from now,
And if I am,
You’ll cancel that detention, yeah?
I hate dishing out detentions, but it’s made even worse by the fact that teenagers are so bloody emotionally manipulative. I have students in every year group who behave like idiots until you punish them, and then they shut up and think that will reverse the sanction.
I know that it’s all part of a power struggle and they want to show that they have control. I’m not used to the confrontation so I really struggle to hold my own against them.
I am holding my nerve, but some of them are really pushing every button. I was told early on in the year that teaching students (no matter how old) is like puppy training – and it is so true.
I wonder if adults behave like toddlers when they are in the classroom? If not, I might look for a job as a college lecturer.
Much Love
Rachel xx
Vic Crain
My daughter teachers high school in the US, which she approaches with an interesting combination of compassion, humor and cynicism. Yes, students try to manipulate, but they’re most often not very clever about it. She has her ways to communicate that she knows the game and it doesn’t work, but she is rarely confrontational about it. And yes, college students, at least in the US, are no better.
patientandkindlove
That’s good to know. You always exist in your little classroom bubble and you think that you’re the only person experiencing these behaviours!
Vic Crain
Not at all. Used to be kids learned behaviors from TV, now its streaming video. Same diff.
Margot Kinberg
I had the same thing happen when I was teaching secondary school, Rachel. It’s maddening, isn’t it? They do try to manipulate (and Vic is right – not always cleverly). Some of them, though, really think they mean it when they promise to be good. It just doesn’t occur to them that there are consequences for what they do (‘OK, if I promise never to shoplift again, will you let me get away with it this time?’). That’s just not how life works, though, is it?
Incidentally, I currently teach adults, and I’ve had that from a few of them, too!