Managing Misbehavior: What I Learned

Note: All last names, home towns, and schools of students were not included in order to protect the privacy of the students.

Original Post 17 July 2011:
 Afterwards:
Here are the pictures from our day at McWane Center: Pictures!
I was so proud that the teens were excited to be there and learn! I was excited to hear that they were having a good time. Emily stated: "It was so weird and slimy. The sting ray was just slimy but the shark felt so weird" when referring to petting the baby hammer head sharks and the sting rays.  Jared stated "This is the coolest thing I have ever seen! I love this thing! I want one at home!" when we was at the Spin Browser exhibit. I did get tired quickly when running up and down stairs either following the teens or searching for the teens and I realized that my job was cut out for me! Early in the trip (within 45 minutes)I was already tired from chasing after them and monitoring behavior. I did not realize how much like little children could act like, but I suppose it's always good to remember that they are still children. 

I feel like by allowing teenagers to misbehave in an environment that caters to mischief was very eye opening for me. I have been watching over my nieces and nephews for years and have dealt with them in a somewhat academic setting (tutoring them and helping them with homework after school), but in a public setting their behavior was more wild and sporadic. I had a difficult time keeping up with them because they had a tendency to split up and wander off (and these kids are fast!). Luckily, this environment was somewhat safe for them to wander off in and mischief was embraced as a good thing. 

However, teenage mischief is a little different from academic mischief. I was not surprised by the skate shop stickers or the food, but I was surprised to how easy it was for teenagers to get completely out of control. It was frustrating attempting to keep up with all of them (especially my nephew and his girlfriend, who found every chance they could to slip away from me), but I did learn a lot about how to handle misbehavior, particularly in public. I also certainly understand why so many chaperones are needed for school field trips!

The Top Ten Things I Learned from this experience include:
1. Ground rules, expectations, and consequences should always be laid out before hand. Whether in the classroom or out in a field trip children need to know what is appropriate and inappropriate. Ground rules are important because it gives them a guideline of behavior. Without rules there is nothing but chaos, especially with adolescents and teenagers. They also need to understand what would happen if they break the ground rules. Children also need to know what is expected of them inside and outside of the classroom.
2. It is exceptionally important to be firm with these rules. If a teacher is not firm the students do not take him/ her seriously. This crumbles your classroom management plan. 
 3. Bad behavior should be addressed immediately. If it is not addressed immediately the bad behavior will persist.
4.In order to manage misbehavior effectively is to travel around the environment frequently. In the case of the McWane Center I found myself constantly following the teens to make sure they did not do themselves or others any (more) harm. 
5.Especially outside of the classroom that the teacher needs to be extremely alert for misbehavior. When the teacher is unaware of what is going on children can get hurt, and will.
6.When traveling with students the teacher should always walk either in the middle or back of the group to observe behavior.
7. Students will typically always be tardy or running behind, as a teacher I need to prepare for that by having a back up plan, and a back up plan for my back up plan!
8. Plans always change or go downhill, always have a back up plan.
9. Separate students that are misbehaving together.
10. Always be patient, kind, and level headed around students- or they will never take you seriously! But this also means that you must be firm and aggressive to managing misbehavior.

I learned a lot more than that, obviously. But to list every single thing I learned would take more than just one blog post. I plan to implement the experience into my classroom rules and expectations in order to have a balanced classroom environment.

Managing Misbehavior: What Happened

Note: All last names, home towns, and schools of students were not included in order to protect the privacy of the students.

Original Post Wednesday  July 13, 2011:

Before McWane:Oh My! What an intense day at the McWane Center! Of course, working with teenagers was a bit of a challenge. My nephew had promised me that his friends would all be at his house at noon, but somehow no one showed up for hours! I was also disappointed and somewhat annoyed in the lack of a "crowd" that Jared had promised me. At 2:00 I had a total of 4 teenagers coming along on this little adventure, when I was promised 8 or more the week before.  Although I wanted to meet at noon and leave shortly after, we did not get on the road until much later. If this were a classroom setting (or a field trip) children would be required to be at school on time. I could not simply give these children detention for being tardy (or not showing up at all)!

Somehow I did not realize how these very active, very bored teenagers would turn my afternoon upside down! I had to pick up a few of his friends, and we met a few more of his friends at a drug store (they wanted snacks). The task of just getting to The McWane Center was difficult, exhausting, and downright complicated. I supposed my nephew was right when he said "It's just so complicated" the night before when I spoke to them. I had forgotten how complicated things become with teenagers, especially when only a few of them have cars and drivers licenses. The other driver (my nephews girlfriend) ended up having to pick up another friend, take him to the police station to pick up his accident report, and then take him all the way back home. Therefore we did not even arrive at the McWane Center until 3 pm!

At around 2:30 it began raining. This afternoon shower was more than just a light shower, it was a down pour. I was worried that the other driver (Myranda) might have a difficult time driving in these weather conditions.  Despite the rain I called my nephew to ask him to be careful! He then informed me that Myranda had to drop their friend off at home and they were on their way to pick up another friend of theirs (totaling to 5 teenagers), so of course Dylan and I would have to wait another few minutes in Birmingham for the rest of the group.

  

The Misbahaving Teens:

Jared (age 15)

Myranda (age 16)
Emily (age 16)
Dylan (age 13)
Zach (age 15)

At McWane: Finally around 2:45 pm we entered the McWane Center. I was lucky because one of the men working there remembered me from high school and let me in for free. But I still had to pay for two teenagers to get in (my nephew AND his girlfriend) as my nephew considers me "bank" with endless amounts of money to give away. I was glad the other teens had money and got in for cheaper posing as 12 year old children.

I set no ground rules for this trip because I figured they were more likely to misbehave (and I would learn more) if I did not set any. I asked them to misbehave for be so I could learn more. I did ask them, however, to watch out for the other children. I did not want any parents upset with me because the teenagers in my care were running wild and hurt their child. That was my only ground rule. After learning that they went wild!

Within 5 minutes one of my teens was already hurt. Emily (age 16) thought it would be a wonderful idea to jump on Dylan (age 13) only to be hit in mouth by his head. Her lip was swollen, red, and turning blue for the rest of the day. All this happened when I had my back turned for just a split second, while trying to map out what to do first. I felt horrible for her, but I documented the incident using my camera phone and told her to get ice or a cold paper towel to stop the swelling.

Of course as teenagers, they broke every possible rule they could! They brought with them Faith Stickers (from the skate shop downtown) and placed them strategically around the McWane Center behind my back! They brought food and drink into exhibits that stated "No food or drinks allowed beyond this point", they climbed on areas that were not meant for climbing (the area between the stairs what used to be the escalator- which is now a slide), they spilled drinks and ice, they crawled behind expensive equipment, they ran, they screamed, they rough housed with each other. What more could I expect from teenagers? I lost them on several occasions. But overall I was happy that I chose the McWane Center. It was an excellent environment for teenagers to be captivated, active, and educated all at once. Some parts of the McWane Center are meant for roughhousing and silly play, while others were much more serious. I was glad that they were able to pet the sting rays and baby hammer head sharks. I was also glad that they were able to entertain themselves on this very hot and muggy day. I tried to get the teens to stay away from the exhibits that were meant for the much younger children, in order to ensure the safety of those children. As far as I can tell they did not venture into that area, however, there were several times where they were out of my line of vision.

I took several pictures on my camera phone (excuse the lack of quality) to document the 'adventure'. I have posted them (and my captions) on my Google + and the link is here:Album

For more information about the McWane Center go here: http://www.mcwane.org/

Managing Misbehavior Prepost

Note: All last names, home towns, and schools of students were not included in order to protect the privacy of the students.

Original Post Tuesday 7/12/11 at 4:30 PM: I feel pretty confident about this trip to the McWane Center with my nephews and their friends. I believe that even though, I may get overwhelmed that I will be ultimately in control. I hope that my nephew, Jared, has invited a lot of his friends and they all show up to this event because I think that the more teenagers I have to manage the more experience I will get from the outing. The plan so far is to meet up at Jared's mother's house around noon tomorrow (hopefully his friends will be on time) and we will all ride together to the McWane Center. I warned my nephews about the costs and have told them to be prepared to pay for their own ticket and to warn their friends that the McWane Center is not free! After all I am not a bank!

In a normal classroom type situation I would not hope for misbehavior. But considering that I feel like I really need to learn to manage misbehavior I hope they act worse than ever! My nephews do not really see me as an adult (I am only 9-10 years older than them). They see me as a peer, maybe not the coolest peer they have but at least I have a car.

Of the teenagers coming I can count on the following to show up: Jared (age 15), Jacob (age 14), Myranda (age 16), Dylan (age 13), and Jason (age 14). Myranda is Jared's girlfriend and is always around; Dylan and Jacob are inseparable, and Jason seems to always show up to events (such as Jake's birthday dinner last month). I hope that Jared and Jacob will invite more friends and that some of them will drive (I only have a 4 passenger sedan). I look forward to tomorrow!

Updated Tuesday night/ Wednesday 1:00 AM:

I am now starting to get nervous. I reminded Jared of our day out and he said "i dunno if i can do the macwane center tommorow" (and yes that is his misspelling and lack of punctuation). He then stated that he was broke and his friends all work during the day and that the only friends he had that can drive are broke or wrecked their cars. I could see the Mary Beth piggy bank being crashed in my head and all the money I had saved over the week disappearing. I told him I could pay for him and Jake and that the rest of his friends would have to come up for their own money! A bit later in the conversation Jared seemed anxious saying "It's all so complicated" to which I replied "Don't be so dramatic we'll figure it out tomorrow". I then warned him to go bed because I was calling him at 11 am!

My hopes were that Jared was being a dramatic teenager and that all would be well tomorrow at noon.

Edited 7/17/11