Yesterday was, on the whole, a fairly uneventful day of classroom observation from my perch at the side of the room.

During the last hour, however, I got to try my hand at classroom management.  It pretty much blew up in my face.  The last hour of the day is fairly rowdy, which is normal; kids are ready to go home.  This class is also made up of lots and lots of seniors, maybe even more than fit in the room itself.  So far, as I said, I’ve only been observing, but when the teacher stepped out of the room briefly during a quiz, the kids started getting loud.  It took me a minute to get up my nerve, and finally I said this:

“Oh, so the teacher leaves the room and you all fall out, like I’m not in here?  You know, I’m gonna be teaching you in like two weeks.”

This was immediately answered with a smart comment that I didn’t hear, but which judging from the resounding laughter was fairly hilarious.  I remained silent, feeling a bit dumb.

Upon reflection, though, I’m glad I said something, to sort of establish myself as someone who isn’t going to put up with a whole lot of craziness.  Of course I wish I’d said something sooner, but there will definitely be more opportunities.