One thing that was hard for me at first was "being firm." I have gotten really really good at that... because I have to be! Otherwise it's a circus. But also I have seen how it positively effects my students.
Before I was a teacher, when I DREAMED of becoming of teacher and when I would visit schools and hear the way teachers talked to their students I would think "wow that was rude. I would never do that. I am so nice and wonderful and I would do better than that person." Well, no. Now I get it. Sometimes you just have to give a kid a STARE DOWN until they SIT DOWN. And saying things like "sit up, pick up your pencil, and copy the (%@#&!*&) problem down" is 100% necessary.
Because I teach multiple grade levels I have learned that 6th grade age does the best with this "firm talk." They don't wanna get called out because they want attention (unlike other grades). They want to test me to see if I'm serious... but ultimately they want to be called out because they want to be GOOD. By being firm they trust me, respect me, and like me... because they like themselves. If my 6th graders like me for only one reason, it's because I make them like THEMSELVES. And it's by me. being. firm.
"[But] if you see that I am not trying, go over there and straighten me up so I can do better."
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