This past week I have been very conflicted. It is the second year that I have been thrust into teaching Physical Science to 8th-graders. The “honeymoon” is over and I am struggling on how I can make this subject “not boring”. On Friday, I was so upset with the 4-5 boys in my classroom I became unglued. It didn’t end there. Later that afternoon, while attending to a young girl who needed to visit with me, there was a student jumping on the back of another student and two others running through my room because one stole the phone of another student. It was all I could do to not walk out of my classroom and start my weekend early.

All weekend I have been soul searching and scouring the Internet for advice on how I need to have better classroom management. What can I do so that my students can learn and I can enjoy my job? What is the secret?

Problem #1

Back when I was a young girl in the ’70s, society was worried about using the television as a “babysitter”. That wasn’t much of a problem with 3, maybe 4, channels to watch. We still played outside, hung out with friends, played with toys, and nurtured our imaginations.

We have a generation of students who have been raised by screens. Parents who work many jobs have work/life imbalance and use iPads, cell phones, and gaming systems to keep their children busy while the parents try to have some time to themselves. Many of my students have had a phone since third grade free to roam the entire Internet and apps with no one guiding them or teaching them how to use it.

My “free time” of letting the students play games on the laptop if they have their work done is boring to them now. With access to many games on their devices and gaming systems, the unblocked websites on our school laptops are “boring” now.

Problem #2

The Covid pandemic has cost our children more than just intellectual growth. It has taken away their social growth as well. Luckily for our state, we only taught from home from March-May in 2020. We have been in person since then and continue to always have in-person classes if we can. Just those three months have wreaked havoc with the psychological growth of our students.

The potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child growth and development: a systematic review (nih.gov)

How COVID-19 Could Affect Kids’ Long-Term Social Development (healthline.com)

I could tell, from my students, that they are a bit immature for the age they are. I have many students who want to “negotiate” with me went they have done something wrong. The conversation goes something like this:

Me: I need you to put your phone on my desk so you can get your work done.

Student: If I am good for 10 minutes can I get my phone back?

Me: You can get it at the end of class.

Student: How about after I get my assignment finished.

Me: No, you can get it after class.

Student: How about…

Me: Stop negotiating or you will get your phone back at the end of the day. (Ugh! I scream in my head.)

So What Is a Teacher To Do?

Aggrivated and discouraged, I fire up my laptop and head to the Internet. Looking through my teacher subreddits on Reddit.com I find out I am not alone. Teachers across the country are dealing with the same thing. Immature students bowing to the social media and Tik Tok gods on how to act in society with no parental supervision. Barking in class, inappropriate sexual noises, and trying to video teachers getting mad is becoming popular on social media. Scary!

“School is boring!” is the mantra I hear from students. They have even said it in my aforementioned Science class. I looked at some websites detailing classroom management strategies and ideas. Some say build relationships, maintain consistency, maintain authority, don’t give the students an inch. Other than building relationships, being rigid and authoritarian is not me. I shouldn’t have to go to school in a bad mood all day. That doesn’t work with middle school students.

Then I came across a teacher website that raved about the videos from CJ Reynolds. A high school teacher at an all boys school in New Jersey. Curious, I took a look at one of his videos thinking that our eighth grade class is a majority of boys. After the first video, I was hooked! The rest of the weekend was spent binging on his YouTube, ordering his book on Amazon, and heading to WalMart to buy things for my classroom to make things a bit more fun. I was rejuvenated! Here is the link to his channel. Real Rap With Reynolds – YouTube

We will be starting a new quarter soon. Next weekend will be spent revamping my lessons, add excitement to my Science class, and teach myself how to bring fun back to my classroom.

To reach our students, we as teachers need to get their attention in different ways. Some of our ideas and teaching styles of the past might not work as well with this new generation of students. I have been in education for 25 years. These past couple of days has me thinking that it isn’t my students, it’s me. I have to look inward as to what I need to do to make my classroom a safe, fun place to be in. I need to pivot and change things up to make my classroom a place where students can learn and grow. My only hope is that these changes I need to do last more than a week.

If you have any tips, ideas, or management procedures that work for you in your classroom, please comment below. I would love to read them and try them out.