Today I was just a tad bit jealous as I watched my parent helper get my class completely quiet and behaved. She used to be a teacher before she had kids and is currently a stay at home mom, but her new name is the "Kinder Whisperer." She is so great with them. I needed to do assessments today and when I need to do assessments that means the kiddos get to watch a 30 minute educational video so I can pull them one at a time. I hate having them just sit and watch a video, but I need the time (and quiet) to work 1:1 and that is the least stressful way (for me) to get my assessments accomplished.
I get slightly embarrassed when I have a parent helper on assessment days because I am already feeling bad about putting the kiddos in front of the boob tube and it makes me feel just a little worse when there is a parent to witness said boob tube watching. It was, however, a total blessing to have this mama there to supervise the video watching. Let's face it, when left semi unsupervised, Kindergarten children do not remain quiet and peaceful. There is always a little wild rumpus going on and it was wonderful to be able to just do assessments and not worry about keeping the kidlets quiet. When the video was over, I still had a few remaining kids to work with, so I grabbed the book Courderoy and the Kinder Whisperer proceeded to read it to the class. They were so well behaved and wonderful and her soft, soothing voice was enough to make me crown her as the Queen of all parent volunteers. She rocks.
The green eyed monster arose, however, when she left and I took over with the kids and they were their usual wiggly, chatty, buns in the air selves. Why!? I am always so insecure about my classroom management skills and although I know I definitely have systems in place and do/say the right things, I still feel like keeping the kiddos on task is a constant effort. I know that comes with the territory of teaching Kindergarten and there is not a Kindergarten teacher out there who can say that his/her class is quiet/on task/well behaved/sweet/polite all the time (right?!), yet I couldn't help feeling a bit jealous that a parent helper could step in and create a total cloud of peacefulness in my classroom when I am typically dealing with buns in the air, chatty patties, and rooty tooties. I think that there is some effect that the "other" person has on kids--maybe it's the novelty of a different person doing something with them, a new face, a different voice--who knows, but it made me feel a little sad for my always trying to get them to be quiet self.
First off, I worry that this parent will think I am not doing a good enough job since it was clearly easy for her to engage my children in a quiet adoration of her story reading. I also worry that maybe my classroom management really is not good since I seem to always run into the same issues (probably because I have always taught 5 and 6 year olds...hello!) Am I too hard on myself?
Anyway, needless to say, despite my desire to become the Kinder Whisperer instead of watching her skills from the side table, I heart parent helpers!
6 comments:
Wow, I loved this post and made me feel so great that someone else feels this way at times. I'm a second year teacher so I attribute a lot of my classroom management problems to:
1. Being "green"
2. Having an awful class (they're wonderful, but you know what I mean- behaviors galore)
3. They become entranced with any new person in the room (which I think its a HUGE part of what you experienced)
I can completely empathize with your green eyed monster feelings. Thank you for being so open and candid! Come visit my blog sometime. :)
I think it is wonderful that this parent was able to come in and be such a great help using her talents and experience but not to take anything away from her I would also like for you to reach around and give yourself a big pat on the back! Clearly your students have learned respect for guests, how to sit still when needed, how to pay attention, a love for reading, kindness, acceptance, a willingness to cooperate, and on and on because you are teaching them these skills. They didn't just magically learn all this the minute your guest parent walked into the room - you need to thank yourself and appreciate that all your efforts are paying off. So they get a little chitty chatty with you - they must feel very secure and comfortable around you. So keep up the good work and all your efforts to teach your students the behavior they need to be successful in life. So far so good!
I say no worries. It is like the other teacher said students are intrigued by any new person. I also know that we as teachers set the mood of the classroom. I too would love to see a kinder class on task every minute of the day also.... Keep up the good work.
I have this same problem often. I tend to constantly blame students behaviors on something I am doing wrong...
Last week I had a conference with one of my harder kid's moms. She said that she and her husband thought they were terrible parents at first because every parenting strategy they tried did not work with this child. Then, they had two more kid and realized it's mostly just the kids- not their parenting. Looking at it like that, I realized that everyone from teachers to parents do this. I certainly don't think she's a bad parent- in fact shes one of the most supportive parents I've ever had and she's tried a LOT with her son.
I've also seen the someone new comes in thing with practically all my classes. It played a key role my first three years teaching when I was getting observed :) The time when it really makes me crazy though is when a specialist comes to watch my kids. They are like, hmm... look fine to me! And I'm like no no, come more often, trust me the novelty will where off and you'll see the problem!
Wow!! It's good to know I am not the only one with these insecurities. Classroom management was always the area I felt I struggled with the most. I think now as a veteran teacher I have gotten better but it's still not easy!!
As a literacy coach I am curious what assessments you were doing?
Being a fresh face is certainly an advantage, but she wouldn't be able to control them that well without some gifts, too. (I love your name for her!) I think it's good that you evaluate your own teaching like this; only a good teacher would care!
As a spec ed (behavioral) teacher, I can say that structure is the biggest part of good classroom management; kids like structure, routine, and clear, consistent expectations. If you've got that, I'm sure you're fine.
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