Apologizing

Today I had to have a conversation with my class. They have been quite silly the last three days, and I needed to reign them in. In the past the conversation would have focused on their behavior, and how they need to change it. That is not how today's conversation went.

They all sat down, ready for the "teacher" talk that they are used to. I sat there for a minute wondering how to start. I looked around at them and realized that I needed to apologize. I needed to take responsibility.

I started with, "I have to say that I'm sorry." Silence.

"I should have been stricter. I starting letting up too soon. I should have spent more time training you. I usually spend more time doing that and I apologize that I didn't do that." Silence.

It went on like this for the rest of the conversation. I talked to them about the swag walk in the hall. That all started innocently enough. One of my girls was walking in our hall, almost strutting, and I started walking like it too. It was a funny moment between her and I, but over the next few walks in our hall other students started doing it. At first that was fine, but soon a few started to get loud and walking all over the hall, rather than in line. I told them that if they were going to do it they had to be quiet. Of course, they said they would be, but Wednesday they so weren't. They were loud and a teacher closed her door because of it. I banned the swag for the next day, and told them they could only do it again if they proved that they could walk correctly.

Well, today they were nowhere near a correct line. People talking, playing around, turned around, and leaning on the wall. That was the last straw before the talk mentioned above. But like I said, I take responsibility for their behavior.

So back to the conversation, I told them if I was going to have a personal responsibility classroom, then I needed to take responsibility for what was happening. Silence.

I told them that specials' teachers compliment them, because they are good kids. I told them that I genuinely enjoy them; that they are great kids. I told them that I love having fun, but not if it disrupts the learning of others, not if it gets out of control. I asked them if they understood. Of course, they all replied, "yes".

One girl raised her hand and when I called on her, she said, "but it's not your responsibility that we don't walk right."

I smiled, "yes, you should all know how to walk in the hall as 5th graders, but it is my fault that the swag got out of control. That I am responsible for."

"Are we good?"

"Yes!"

"Good, let's go show off the best line as we go to specials." And you know what? They did!