Dear We Are Teachers,
I’m in my first year teaching high school biology. Ever since the new semester started, my students are either totally apathetic or spend the whole class goofing off. We can’t get anything done, and it genuinely feels like they hate me. How do I reset them to factory settings? And please tell me it doesn’t take weeks?
—I’ve Got the New Year Blues
Dear I.G.T.N.Y.B.,
If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think it’s you. It’s January. And your teenage students are coming off two weeks of mainlining a combination of TikTok, sugar, and very little sleep. Of course you’ll be less interesting by comparison!
In any case, now is the perfect time for a reset. Here are some of my favorite articles for building strong routines, boosting morale, and solidifying routines in the secondary classroom.
- If you suspect your students need some engagement, here’s 5 ways to boost morale when the vibe in your classroom is off. And if you haven’t tried them before, attendance questions and attendance brackets are a fabulous way to connect with your students and get them talking, all while doing a task you have to do at the beginning of class anyway.
- Games and class brain breaks are a great way to combat student apathy. Here’s a few of my favorite for middle and high school classrooms: The Unfair Game, Wikiracing, this middle school math game, and, weirdly, this Heads-or-Tails game. They get so into it!
- Here are some quick fixes for a challenging class you can implement overnight! But for longer-term restructuring, consider these 50 tips for high school classroom management. Or if 50 feels too overwhelming, I’ve also narrowed it down to my top 6.
You’ve got this! You’re in your first year—be gentle with yourself. In time, you’ll learn tricks to have on hand before the back-to-school slump starts.
Dear We Are Teachers,
At our high school, students take a new ELA class every semester; thus we have a second parent night in January. It felt like during the course the night, I had so many parents verbalize either their criticism or distaste for literature. The father of one student warned me that this class won’t be a priority for his child on the engineering track (thanks!). Another parent asked about whether my subject is relevant anymore with the advent of AI (cool!). I don’t know if they got together on a group text before parent night and agreed to collectively shame me or what, but I feel like I’m starting off the year on a bad note. How do I shake it off? How would you have responded?
—Irrelevant in Indiana
Dear I.I.I.,
One of my favorite expressions from my father-in-law when people say or do something boneheaded is this: “They don’t know.” (Pro tip: it’s most effective if you shake your head while mumbling it.)
For some reason, people love to tell teachers how they find their subject of choice uninteresting, unimportant, or irrelevant. It’s so common we even wrote an article about it.
I had this problem a few times in the course of my 11-year teaching run, but never several times in one night. I would add two things to your beginning-of-the-semester materials.
- Make sure your introductory letter or syllabus spells out why reading and writing still matter in 2024.
- In your parent night presentation or literature, include a section called, “How relevant is reading and writing, really?” You can even say, “Yes, I was actually asked this by a parent before. But it’s still a good question. Let’s talk about it.”
Basically, you want to beat them to their own joke. And if you think about it, you’re really just doing the same thing here with parents that you do with your students each new unit. Why do we need to know this? Why does it matter?
Dear We Are Teachers,
I teach middle school. Since school has started back up, I’ve had students asking a particular question they know toes the line on being appropriate: “Is it massive?”
If I’m teaching about Charybdis in The Odyssey: “Was it massive? What would you say the girth is?” If I mention there’s a huge blizzard on the forecast: “Is it massive? How big is it?” When I say they have a few questions for homework: “Is the homework massive, though? Would you say it’s bigger than Mr. Nguyen’s?”
I’ve tried to play it off, but they keep bringing it up. I know it’s a reference to some meme online, and I know that any attention I give it is going to make it worse. But I worry that at some point, an administrator will come to observe me and see this “massive” issue in my classroom. What should I do?
—Massively Annoyed
Dear M.A.,
This isn’t just annoying; it’s harrassment. It’s also grounds for a Title IX complaint since it’s unwanted sexual conduct in the workplace or at school, and it covers any employee or student in a school that receives federal funding.
Here’s what you do. Have a crystal-clear conversation with each of your classes: the “massive” conversation is inappropriate for school because of its connotation, and it doesn’t matter if they agree or not. Then, explain what Title IX is. Once they understand that, explain that continuing the joke after you’ve made it clear it’s inappropriate is grounds for a Title IX complaint against them. Plus, it could lead to disciplinary action that remains on their permanent record. (Run all this by an administrator ahead of time to make sure you’re communicating accurate info.)
Make sure students know that any continuation of the joke will be emailed word for word to both parents/guardians and your administrator. They might be brave enough to say it to you, but something tells me they’re not brave enough to say it to their grown-ups.
Do you have a burning question? Email us at [email protected].
Dear We Are Teachers,
I’m in my first year of teaching and school starts on Monday. After thinking about the problems of last semester extensively over the break, I feel like I need to do a huge classroom reset for my 5th graders on following directions. Are there any specific procedures, practices, routines, etc., you would recommend so I don’t find myself repeating the same thing 8 million times this semester?
—Let’s Get Down to Business