I know I’m a little slow here, but I think I have it figured out.  Teaching – it’s all a game.  I mean, think about it.  You’re placed in a room with 20-25 little entities who can throw you for a loop at any time and you have to find a way to win the game.  What makes it challenging is that the scenario literally changes from class to class to day to day.  Some days you win and some days you lose.

Oh sure, you’ve got some little entities you know you can depend on to not upset the apple cart, but just when you think you’ve got the hang of it, something pops out of nowhere and you’ve lost the game.  It could be the kid who decides to make a comment or noise every time you speak to the class.  Do you have enough tricks in your bag to combat such a distraction?  If not, you lose.  How about that kid who decided to have a  fit because they want to sit on the top riser and not the bottom?  Can you defeat the whiny monster with your bag of tricks?  Can you find a way to distract the whiny monster or do you lose it and make it worse?

Like a video game, it’s a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute test of ingenuity, doing instantaneous personality studies and making decisions with lightning speed in order to get your lesson taught and still maintain your sanity.  Like today for instance.  As I’m showing one of my kindergartners where her seat is on the risers, another little girl says, “it looks like she has to use the bathroom.  The back of her pants are wet”.  And so they were.  The little wet girl says she has an extra pair of pants in her backpack, and so the strategy begins.  It’s the 3rd day of school.  I can’t send her back to her classroom at the end of the building by herself.  So I ask if there’s another person who feels comfortable walking with her.  I immediately have a couple of volunteers.  I only met this bunch 5 minutes before, so it’s a total guess as to who looks the most reliable.  I pick a bright looking, enthusiastic little girl, tell them to walk to the classroom, stay together and walk back.  As soon as they leave, I look at the class of about 18, ascertain whether or not they can hold it together for a minute while I call the classroom to alert the teacher, who of course, doesn’t answer her phone.  Nor does the second teacher I call.  Or the office.  At this point, I check out the kids again, decide they can’t be patient any longer, say a quick prayer for the kids going down the hall and keep teaching.  A few minutes later, the kid I trusted comes back by herself, says she stopped at the health office instead, her friend was being helped and would be back soon.  Can I pick them or what?  See – all a game.  A game I happened to win today.

There are some days however, even with my deep bag of tricks, that I get overwhelmed by the unexpected.  Usually they’re behaviors I could never imagine any child would have the gall to try, much less as a group.  This is when I find myself just looking at them and thinking what the heck do I do now?  I never would have behaved that way as a child for fear of punishment to follow, but my hands are really tied.  So, some days, like in PacMan, I feel myself being gobbled up by the monster and losing the game.  It’s certainly motivation to make some plans as to how to add more tricks to the bag and win the game next time, but it is not a good feeling.  I hate losing.

Of course, it’s not just winning or losing at classroom management, it’s the big game of learning that’s most important.  So important that if I lose, they lose too, so I had better have my A game on.  Again, it’s having that bag of tricks, thinking fast on your feet that can save a student from thinking they can’t do something.  Knowing when to push or challenge someone and when to encourage or hold a pep rally for them again takes an analysis of personalities.  One move in the wrong direction and you both lose.  It’s a serious game, one that some teachers aren’t willing or able to maintain due to the pressure.  It’s much easier to play the game when the product isn’t a child with an impressionable mind and psyche.  But that’s what makes those teachers who stay to play the game so amazing.  They understand the need to improve their skills so that not only do they increase their changes of winning, but they lead their students to win the game as well.