Day 146 Mockingbird

Today at school something happend that set me fuming.  A big pet pieve of mine as a teacher is when smart students act "dumb" so that they're not looked at as "uncool" by their peers.  In my seventh grade music class, I have about 20-25 respectful, responsible, smart students and about five that could care less (and act like it).  Somehow throughout the quarter, the negative students started to affect the atmosphere of the classroom.  Little by little, the good kids seemed more and more embarrassed to raise their hands and answer questions freely and did not participate as excitedly.  The change happend so subtly that I didn't realize its impact.  Until today.

We had just started a hip hop unit, and I started out the class with a simple question to get a discussion going: "Why do you think that the hip hop movement started in a big city?" (as opposed to a small town, in the country, etc.)  I had given the students several minutes to prepare their answer and write it down.  When I asked for volunteers, no one raised their hand.  I was totally surprised.  Then, I called on a girl who is always paying attention and an all-around great kid.  She said she didn't know.  I proceeded to go from one student to the next (all ones that I knew would respond well) and they all played the "I'm clueless because I don't want to look uncool" card.  I was so mad, I could feel my face getting red!!  I demanded that everyone put their books and folders in their desks and leave out a piece of paper and pencil; it was pop quiz time.

The students could tell that I was NOT happy--I rarely get upset or raise my voice.  As I gave the quiz, I knew that I should talk with the class about the issue at hand but it also sounded like a lot of work.  It'd be much easier to let it slide by, have the quiz speak for me, and move on.  But then I thought of this whole "claim the moment" goal and knew what I had to do.

They passed their quizzes in.  The room was silent.  As I stood there with my arms crossed, I began to express my concern.  I firmly explained that there are about 25 kids doing an excellent job and getting A's in the class and that they are letting the the kids are failing affect and intimidate them.  "You should never think it is uncool to look smart.  You should never think it is uncool to achieve, to exceed, to do well..."  I followed it with, "You should be very, very ashamed."  As soon as I said it, I could feel the weight come down on their hearts as watched as they lowered their eyes; you could hear a pin drop, the silence was so thick.  That's when I knew that I had succeeded.  I went on to explain why it is good to achieve and do well in school, and then ended by sharing my disappointment in their behavior.

With that, we moved on.  I had the students get out their work for our hip hop unit  and started out with a different question.  Immediately, several hands went up to answer it.  For the rest of the period, more and more hands raised to answer questions as we discussed Eminem's rap, "Mockingbird."  The period ended completely opposite of how it began.

Lesson:  be ready to inspire