Lord of the Flies

Today was an interesting experience. Mrs. Densmore was sick so I shadowed a substitute teacher. She had never substituted for a music class and I've only been doing this a week, so together we made a great pair! Well, it actually didn't go so badly and I did learn a very important lesson.

We started out by writing thank you cards to Junk 2 Funk. I went around and talked with the fourth graders, making sure they added what they learned or what their favorite part was. Then we had back-to-back 4th and 5th grade classes. They both followed the same schedule because of the sub plans. It was amazing how each class came in, recognized that Mrs. Densmore wasn't there and then almost started to panic. There was a lot of, "Where's Mrs. Densmore? Why isn't she here? What are we doing today?" The kids didn't like the fact that something had changed in their schedules. It immediately made them noisier and more disrespectful. It was difficult to make them settle down to talk about Memorial Day. I found myself intervening a lot more in discipline issues as the sub tried to teach. After the discussion, I helped the sub hand out tone chime sheets and helped the students get the proper tone chime. Then I led the singing side of the group. (My fear almost completely mastered! I was singing loud!) It was really hectic during transitions as we changed tone chimes each song. The kids would get loud and we lacked the rhythm Mrs. Densmore uses to keep the class focused. I realized that sometimes you have to push ahead to keep the class in the present.

Both of the classes finished with extra time so we played four corners. However, half way through one of the games, there was a heated argument about whether a girl was out or not. Although it was a minor detail, it was a quite the shouting match; I could really see the effects of a stressful environment. Coming into the classroom, the kids were disconcerted and then, when they didn't see the effective authority leader, they abandoned classroom rules. This put stress on all the other kids and they became frustrated with their other classmates. This showed when we kept having to wait for quiet to start the tone chime songs. Kids would turn to the louder ones and 'shhhh!' them loudly. I thought it was a good thing at first- the kids were 'policing' themselves so to speak. But then, I realized that the kids could only really be responsible for themselves because when they had to police their classmates, they lacked the disciplinary figure that they could rely on. By the end of class, it was apparent this high-stress environment was putting strain on the kids. I understand 'Lord of the Flies' better now. Younger students need structure. It makes them feel in control and therefore, they feel safe. Take that away and they suddenly become highly stressed, little monsters. And you could definitely see they didn't want to be badly behaved. It was the lack of structure that led to the outbursts. Maintaining structure- something to ponder for future teaching.

One great moment today- everyone was talking really loudly and I used the 'clap clap clap-clap clap' method to quiet them down. They all clapped in return and went completely silent. It was really cool to see them respect me and respond!