Shut Up Or Settle Down

In a stack of papers called Instruction.

  • Sep
  • 15
  • 2006

“Ladies and gentlemen,” I boldly proclaimed at the beginning of class today, the normal greeting that I sound out just after the bell rings. Conversation lingered, dialogues continued, jokes ran to their punch lines, laughter rang out. The usual silence didn’t settle in until much later than expected. With severe disappointment, I continued.

“First of all, good morning.” A smattering of reciprocated “good morning”s echoed out.

“Secondly, when I’m talking like this, that’s your cue to shut up. There’s a daily on the board; take care of it.” I smiled my normal smile, politely stalking around the room to encourage focus on the day’s writing. But the phrase “shut up” had already been uttered.

That phrase has a strange effect. I feel as though I could drop f-bombs left and right without as much impact as a “shut up.” For some reason, and I should know this by now, that seems tantamount to a slap across the face for most students. After a few minutes, we wandered down to the book room to pick up The Scarlet Letter. Upon return to the room, I decided to set things right.

“So, folks, I’ll ammed what I said earlier; ‘shut up’ was perhaps too harsh a term.” This time, echoes of “yes” and “uh-huh” rang out. Holding my hand up for silence, but bowing my head to signify my agreement with their sentiments, I said, “When I’m talking like this, it’s time for you to settle down and start writing.” More smiles littered the sea of faces this time and students started writing.

It’s amazing what words will do and what it can mean for the teacher to correct him/herself.

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2 comments

1. CaliforniaTeacherGuy says:

[9/16/2006 - 4:42 am]

You’re right, of course, about the harshness of the phrase, but sometimes the kids do need to just shut up and get to work!

2. Paul Phuoc says:

[9/22/2006 - 3:47 am]

Your students actually calmed down and started doing their work? When did you acquire such control over your kids? They must’ve been freshmen ‘cuz just two years ago, our English 3 class wouldn’t shut up until you started breaking students’ backs with chairs. I miss the old ways.