You’ve gotta get in constant touch with the part of you that loves math and then exploit it, let it inform your teaching. Take photos of that building, bring in tile samples from the floor & carpet shop. Those are my favorite lessons, the ones that’ll make you believe you can’t do another job as long as you live.

I’ve posted many of mine on this blog. I can’t guarantee they’ll resonate with you as they did with me, but perhaps they’re worth a look.

Clearly.

I haven’t taught high school, but have taught 6th grade and 8th grade in a middle school setting.

Even with those levels, I found the same as with my fifth graders.

I think it’s true of all people. When you respect someone and enjoy being around him/her, you sincerely feel bad when you’ve done something to upset that person.

So when you’ve created that respect (teacher to student and vice versa) and you’ve made learning interesting, and even fun at times, you’ve built that relationship and the kids don’t really want to disappoint you, just as we, in “real life” don’t want to disappoint others that we respect.

So perhaps it’s not a high school vs. elementary school discipline plan. Maybe it’s just a fact of human nature that we can all use to help us.

Life ain’t so, and I’m glad it isn’t, which makes these sorta gettin’-along strategies essential.

Unrelatedly, if I weren’t constrained by curriculum maps and pacing guides, I’m almost certain I’d teach exactly the same way. The question isn’t really theoretical either. There was a month-long stretch this school year which convinced me, for reasons which don’t matter anymore, it would be my last.

I taught that month like it was my last, obliging myself to nobody and nothing. And the result was more or less the same. I brought in the same outside inspirations for learning & projects. I covered the same standards because, with few exceptions, I think they’re dead on.

Mindy, that’s great. I’m not sure how much my discipline oughtta coincide with yours. Feeling weird now, having treated my high schoolers like fifth graders. Hm.

Rick, I have an update a few comments above yours.

I teach elementary, fifth grade. Every day I lead them down the hall to the lunch room. Other grade levels are in session as we walk by, and my students need to respect that and stay quiet when walking past doors.

So every day this year, as they walk by me into the lunch room, I give them a high five or some silly version of a high five. It’s become our little “thing” as a class. No other class does it. In fact, other students see us do and ask my kids, “What’s that?”

On a day when we should have had a snow day, they were all out of sorts. They were a mess walking down the hall. I stopped them, reminded them that they were not the only ones in our school and continued to the lunch room.

Once there, I did not put my hand up for the traditional high five. There was visible squirming and eye-dropping as they realized that their behavior had been “uncool” with me.

Every day since, they’ve been quiet and we’re back to the high fives.