The Darker Side of Herding Cats: What Level of Student Misconduct Should Public School Teachers Be Obliged to Tolerate?

We just completed our first three days with our kindergarten students.  Their antics already have elicited many smiles, and most of them are trying very hard to behave and to please the adults around them.  They are alive with energy and curiosity.

Among them are several who have reduced their teachers to tears.  I met one of these students when his class came to the library for the first time.  Obviously, I had never interacted with any of them.  At the front of the line stood a boy; well, he whirled around while the rest of the line stood still.  As I introduced myself and made ready to lead the line into the library on the "library train," complete with chugging arm movements and sound effects, this boy stepped over to me and kicked me a stinging kick.  Before I could recover from my surprise, he had stepped on the top of my foot.  Looking me right in the eye, he began to grind his foot down onto the top of mine.  Needless to say, I taught a mini-lesson on the spot about personal space.  A day later (on the kindergarteners' third day of school), one of the teachers in our building was head-butted by another kindergarten boy.  The impact likely broke her nose.

To be sure, many of these children arrive at our school carrying the baggage of economic disadvantage, perhaps coupled with physical and mental challenges.  Both the "regular" classrooms and all of our many special education, bilingual, counseling, and other student support programs are overwhelmed by the depthless need.  But, at what level of misbehavior, if one agrees there is, indeed, such a level, does the line get crossed, and the infringement on educators' health and safety become unacceptable?  What is to be done?

At this point, the best solution I have is to prepare to meet them wearing a baseball catcher's uniform.

The Time for Herding Cats Approaches

In just a few short weeks, a whole new crop of kindergarten students will join our school.  Their parents will drive to school in their cars to welcome the buses, snapping dozens of pictures of their precious ones alighting on their own for the first time.  These babies will enter our classrooms noisily, shyly, throwing temper tantrums, clinging desperately to brothers and sisters.  Their shoelaces will need tying; their noses will require tissue.  They will not know what a line is, let alone how to walk in one.

I will be tempted to, and in fact feel guilty when I do not, start teaching them right away about titles, authors, and illustrators; spines, covers, and pages.  But, I will remind myself it is well worth the time invested up-front to let them discover that laying on a book shelf is a poor choice, that other people covet their personal space, that taking turns heightens everyone's enjoyment, and that we are all in this together.  Happy 2013-2014 school year!

The Ongoing Love Affair With Fantasy Series

Many people have claimed J.K. Rowling deserves credit for almost single-handedly reviving kids' interest in reading.  I don't dispute the assertion.  I would only suggest that, at least in our library, her influence has turned out to be in a narrower area than a librarian would hope.

Let me explain.  Since the publication of the "Harry Potter" series, our students have gravitated overwhelmingly to fantasy, at the expense of most other genres.  Only nonfiction and cartoon-style books seem to be able to compete.  Not only is fantasy the hands-down choice for most kids, boys and girls, grades 2-6.  Stand-alone fantasies are not preferred; series garner the greatest loyalty.

I have asked myself often lately why these preferences should be.  Do kids gravitate to fantasy because it's more attractive than their real lives?  Does it encourage them to indulge in imagining what life would be like if they had super powers?  And, what about the obsession with series?  Kids can't get enough of following the adventures of their favorite characters, no matter how repetitive the stories become.  Perhaps adults are no different, considering how we love continuing reality t.v. series and ongoing sagas such as "Downton Abbey."  Maybe it's just human to become attached to others, even if they are fictional, and not to want to say goodbye to them.     

Readers' Theater, Recycled Writing, and the Common Core Standards

Last October, I reintroduced scary readers' theater to my fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students.  Year after year, the kids consistently enjoy and request it.  This year's crop of sixth graders, however, really has run with it.  I've always suggested, as a followup to using professionally-authored scripts, that students can write their own scripts, but no group has ever taken me up on it.  Students from this group already have produced, outside of class time, four of their own scripts, one of which we've performed.  They continue to submit scripts for my consideration.

I'm extremely gratified that our sixth graders, increasingly concerned as they are with their social status among their peers, feel such enthusiasm about writing and even accept editing of same!  I have no complaints, but I have two concerns.  First, they seem stuck on the plot of preteens trespassing on forbidden wooded property where they come to no good end.  And, second, while I justified using readers' theater as a means for students to compare / contrast the experiences of reading versus listening to literature (a Common Core Standard), I have many other standards still to address this school year.  My challenge: To get us all unstuck without stifling enthusiasm.  Any suggestions?