Walking quietly

[Guest guest]

I want my students to walk quietly in line.

Is that true? Yes.

Can you absolutely know that that's what you want. No..that's not

exactly what I want.

How do you react when you think the thought: I want my students to

walk quietly in line?

I try to bribe them to do it by rewarding students who walk

quietly...and punishing those who don't.

I look at them with raised eyebrows if they walk by and they are

talking.

Sometimes I talk to them sternly about it.

I worry about them disrupting other classrooms...and that the

teacher will come out and complain and blame me.

I am afraid of the principal seeing an unruly line and thinking that

I'm a bad teacher.

I rely on my students to make me look good.

I resent them because they can get me in trouble.

I turn them into little soldiers.

I have seen some of them try so hard to please me that they barely

turn their head when they're walking with their shoulders back and

hands straight at their sides. I look at this kid and wonder if he's

even breathing!

I look at other lines and praise them as if to show my class what a

good line looks like.

I have set up patrols who are line monitors who are supposed to

report back to me the people who are talking. What is this, a

prison!?

I give them talks about appropriate ways to walk in the school.

We take practice walks on the first day of school.

When I see another staff member in the hall ahead of me, I

turnaround to check on the status of my line so that I can make a

good impression.

This thought is so stressful.

I use this thought to try to make me look better in the eyes of

others.

Who would you be without the thought that you want your students to

walk quietly in line?

I would not be a line police.

A little bit of chit chat would not push my button.

I would not punish students for wanting to share things with other

people in line.

I might see smiles on kids' faces when they're able to walk freely

without fear of doing it wrong.

I would talk to those students who do talk in line and be able to

listen to what they're saying. (I love these ones that show me

without the story I'd be a listener to these amazing students!)

I would not be paranoid when another adult is in the hallway with me.

I would walk confidently myself.

I would be out of my students' business.

I would stop using my students to manipulate other people's

impressions of me.

TA> I do not want my students to walk quietly in the hallway.

Yes, I love that they know how to communicate and can do it freely.

It's a huge expectation to want that from them, and it's stressful.

I could live this turnaround by noticing when people I'm with are

talking loudly in restaurants or other quiet settings. I can be glad

to hear them and grateful that they are expressing themselves in my

presence.

TA> I want my students to walk loudly in the hallway.

I personally, do not like being told that I have to stuff something

away inside me when it comes up. I want my students to be loud if

that's what they need in that moment. I want my students to

experience that they are always ok to express themselves. Yes. If I

don't have the expectation that they should walk quietly, then maybe

I'll just notice that child was loud and then watch him be quiet in

the next moment. Loudness only lasts for as long as it lasts

anyways. I don't have to go up to him and come down with a loud

punishment for it on top of the noise I remember happening in the

past.

TA> I want me to walk quietly in the hallway.

Yes, with a quiet mind that isn't patrolling my class as they walk

in line.

TA> I want me to walk loudly in line.

Yes, get out of the fear of displeasing other people and do what

comes up for me. In my life now, this turnaround might be, I want me

to cry loudly. I get so embarrassed about crying that I just whimper

in my pillow sometimes. I want me to express myself. Sometimes that

might be with tears.

~Mona