There are tons and tons of classroom management books out there. I've read a few and I've always had more questions because these don't seem to accurately answer the questions of the types of behaviors I see in my classroom. Maybe my school is unique and I just deal with absurd behavior or Maybe..just maybe... these authors have a huge disconnect between reality and what they "think" is happening in classrooms.
I've had a few moments of ridiculous behavior in my classroom but I think this school year takes the cake on the quantity of ridiculous behaviors. So in the spirit of sharing the comedy show that is my classroom here are some random behaviors(that have actually happened in my classroom).
- Lets Workout! Right now, my favorite is my students taking my rolling chairs and using them as dumbbells... yup..I said it. They were bench pressing my chairs and competing with each other.
- Swinging on my extension cords: So... I have extension cords that hang from the ceiling(yea.. my room came this way..) We are a 1 to 1 school so the thought would be "Hey... they'll be able to plug in their chromebook with no problems!"... except they forgot that this are 12 year olds and use the extension cords like they are Tarzan in the Jungle.
- I see glitter everywhere:... I had a student bring glitter makeup into my classroom and after several attempts to get her to put away her Sephora equipment of makeup she finally did but not before glitter was EVERYWHERE. Students didn't want to sit in the chair for weeks until it finally disappeared.
- Arm wrestling mid lesson: For whatever reason, two students decided that they REALLY needed to arm wrestle and figured while I was talking and discussing their lesson that was the perfect time to do it. Yup.. I was standing there and they were in a battle with the arms.
- Nonstop eaters: I have students that NEVER stop eating. We have a rule where students can't eat in the classroom but they do anyway..and they keep sneaking their food like I can't see them. (Hey.. you 7th graders.. you are about as stealthy as a bull china store.) One student would sneak his food in... and hide it between my tables until finally he was trying to sneak food and it just splattered all over the floor during my lesson.
- Moaning and Groaning: Another entertaining incident that occurred this year was a student that was moaning and groaning in the classroom while on their chromebook. I went over to look at what he was doing..and he was watching one of those Tasty cooking videos and they were making a chocolate cake. Epic. I can't be mad at that.
- The lotion incident: A student dropped his pants to put lotion on his legs.
- Easter Egg Debacle: I created a Easter egg hunt as a review activity while I was out. I had done it the day before with other classes so I figured it would be fine as an activity while I was gone. When I returned to my classroom there was broken plastic Easter eggs everywhere, sand, and water. Like... where did the sand come from?? Well.. my students broke my tape dispenser and then spread sand all over the classroom.
- Shrimp in my sinks: I don't even know how this happened but I was cleaning my lab sinks and I found SHRIMP shells... like the kind that you eat in my sinks.
- A bucket of chicken: A student pulled out a bucket of chicken and then proceeded to eat during my lesson like there was NOTHING wrong with that.
- Pitcher of Ice Tea: Another student brought a pitcher of ice tea and cups and preceeded to share with her classmates...
- Dancing on my tables: I had one student that was so hyper he was dancing on my tables. MY LAB TABLES.
I'm sure there are many more, I initially could only come up with a few but then as I started to write down this list more and more memories started to flood my brain. There is definitely a trend with food. My students must be consistently hungry because a lot of incidents occur over food. This list doesn't include misbehavior or altercations..this is just random crazy behavior that happens daily in my class.
I swear learning does happen...occasionally.