Respect

Over the past few days, my cooperating teacher and I have noticed a problem with students disrespecting one another. It started out small enough – gossip. Soon, however, gossip in the cafeteria turned into gossip in the hallways, and gossip in the hallways turned into a major distraction in the classroom. Students are unable to check their emotions in at the door, so to speak. Before long, it became necessary to bring about a classroom discussion on the issue of respect.

Friday, during Social Studies, we came together as a class and had a discussion. My cooperating teacher led a discussion about changes that needed to be made in the classroom. The students brought up interesting points about restlessness after lunch, the seating arrangement, the time of day, and gossip. After we put our “deltas” on the board, I had the students eliminate the reasons that were out of our control – such as afternoon classes, gym at the end of the day, and time constraints. By revising our list, I helped the students to see that we need to adapt to our environment. After the “non-negoitables” were erased from the board, I noticed a common theme with the issues remaining – respect, or lack thereof. The remaining issues included complaints about students speaking out of turn, insults in the lunch room, etc. With these issues, I led the students in a discussion about the meaning of the word respect. After I gave each student time to think about the word respect, each student had to voice his/her personal definition of the word respect. In doing this activity, I felt that the students were able to understand what respect “looked like.” It was also interesting for me to see how students viewed the issue of respect. While going around the room, one bold student voiced that she does not respect anyone. Although I was slightly offended by her remark, I was not entirely surprised. Looking back, I am sure that she may represent the views of some of her other classmates. Of course, her comment led to some snarky comments in the classroom.

In order to solidify the concepts we discussed in class, my cooperating teacher had the students write a letter to the Lions team teachers about their opinions about the word respect. Tomorrow we will be collecting the letters. I am very interested to read what they say. Hopefully, by having the insight of the students we will all be able to become more respectful.