The Desks Incident

This is a story of student leadership in the realest sense.

Last week my students had social studies testing all morning. By the end of the day, I guess they were a little burnt out. My class (the one that tends to be a very well-behaved bunch of students) came into the room in a small uproar. I have a policy with them that they need to line up outside the door, enter the room quietly, and sit down.  If this is done well, the class gets the next five minutes to socialize. (See my article, “Ask the Kids,” in Teacher Magazine for more on this practice.)  If they do not enter quietly, I often allow them to line up outside and walk in again—for a second shot at earning the social time. 

Now, on this particular day, the desks were still in rows from testing, instead of the groups of four they are used to. When the students came in, they didn’t know where to sit. I said, “Find a seat anywhere for now.” On most days, that would have sufficed.

            “Oh, man, I hate the desks this way! Can’t we sit in our groups?” a student yelled. 

            “No!” answered another student indignantly. “We should keep it this way. Every day ‘til the end of the year!”

            “Noooo!” some other students shouted. 

            “Shhh!!!!” other students cut in. “Quiet for the five minutes!” 

Gradually the class became quiet, waiting to see what I would do. 

Even in their silence, I was slightly shocked at the level of tension they were displaying. I didn’t think it had so much to do with the desks, but I knew we needed our usual structure back. “On a scale of one to four, how do you think the entrance was?” I asked, as usual.

“One!” they groaned, all in agreement. “Can we do it again?”

“Yes,” I answered calmly. “Here’s what I want you to do. Each of you, move your desk back into group formation. Then line up outside and we’ll enter again.” I thought these were reasonable directions and didn’t expect any fuss in return. I was wrong, however.

“What?! I ain’t moving any desks!” cried a girl, who is usually very well behaved, but does have a complaining streak that kicks in on occasion.

“It’s not fair! We didn’t sit in these desks like this! We shouldn’t have to move them!” another student chimed in. 

Soon half the class was complaining about moving the desks, while the other half was watching, wondering what would happen next. I was surprised by the behavior, which I know I showed on my face, and was fighting back rare feelings of disgust. I could have gotten ugly at that moment. No matter what was going on with them, my students knew better than to act that way. 

Suddenly, Kino (a pseudonym) stood up from his chair. “Oh my GOD!” he said.  “This is ridiculous!” He forcefully moved his desk 90 degrees and pushed it into the desk in front of it. The whole class watched without saying a word. Then Tyshawn, one of the tougher students in the class stood up, shaking his head at the rest of the class.

“Come on, guys,” he said quietly, and moved his desk too. Within a heartbeat, the whole class moved their desks into their usual formation without another word about it. They lined up outside and entered quietly. During their five minutes break, I found out there had been major drama in the lunch room: kids were throwing bottles at one another and there had been no adult present. 

For some reason, this incident—the one with the desks—stayed on my mind for a while. On the one hand, I had trouble getting over the gall of the students’ refusal to move the desks… on the other hand, how remarkable was Kino’s moment of leadership? While the class was stuck thinking, “Are we going to be good right now or bad?” Kino rose above it and did what he believed was right. His influence over the rest of the class was powerful, and no one questioned his choice. Finally, how much better was it for all of us that leadership—and, frankly, authority—emerged at that moment from within the class rather than from me, the teacher.

Leadership in middle school is about how kids position themselves and make their voices heard in their various communities (school, home, church, neighborhood, etc.). School may be one of the most important communities for kids, because it is where so much of their peer-to-peer socialization occurs.  Student-centered classrooms, while they open the door to the full range of adolescent behavior (more than a lot of people want to be bothered with), also give kids real opportunities to be leaders. 

I have been thinking of talking to Kino about what he did that day and why I thought he displayed leadership—but I don’t want to ruin it by putting the Teacher Stamp of Approval on it! I know he didn’t do it because of me, which made it all the more real.

[image credit: www.monitorequipinc.com/ cdf_desk_chair.JPG]

Comments

[Penny Kittle]

Ariel... awesome writing and thinking here. I enjoyed this scene from your classroom so much. I plan to use it with my new teachers in the fall and as a study text in narrative with teachers I work with this summer. Keep writing! You have much to say.

Penny Kittle
North Conway, NH

[Sam]

Ariel, I enjoyed this. But tell the kid he did something great. He deserves to hear it from you.

The teacher stamp of approval may be a disincentive when given publicly, or when coming from an adult with whom the child does not have a strong connection, but I doubt that is the case with you. It doesn't matter why he did it. You can articulate for him why what he did was brave and meaningful. He may not even know that. He'll appreciate it.

[Mary Tedrow]

Wow Ariel. This was a powerful moment. I don't know if I agree with Sam above. I'm guessing Kino already knows what kind of person he wants to be and doesn't really need approval.
This reminded me of the day a group of juniors came into my room in an uncharacteristically bad - even violent - frame of mind. Same time of year. End of school, finals week. When I probably registered shock on my face one of my more mature boys - who also exhibited great leadership that day - told me "We all just failed our Math exam." I was well aware of the situation in that math class where a teacher really had failed them - and probably doesn't even know the damage he did before he left at the end of the year. But they all knew what was coming next - repeating a class, maybe summer school, maybe dropping out. Sometimes we all just need a hug.

[Sam]

I know that this isn't the focus of this blog, but I'm surprised about the discussion about praising students. Why the resistance to praise? I know that praise is not helpful if it is vague or inauthentic. But who does not like to receive authentic praise? Who does not remember a time when someone they cared about said, "I'm proud of you"? In my experience as a teacher, there have only been a limited number of times when I saw students do truly courageous acts, and I was able to tell them so. If I could, I'd let them know what seeing that act let me know about their potential to do great things in the future. Telling them this was tremendously satisfying for me--I felt like I was doing one of the most meaningful things a teacher can do--and I always felt like the kids were hearing something that resonated with them strongly. Kino may already know all this, but he may not. I really don't see how telling him so could hurt.

[Elena Aguilar]

Ariel,
I love this glimpse into your classroom, teaching practice and into your feelings about beliefs about your students! I appreciate the way you share your thoughts about what move to make in a situation that could have gone in many directions. Your questions for your students, your wait time, your reflections in the moment are at the center of good teaching--not reacting out of fear that everything will fall apart, but taking a moment to tune into the kids, and make careful moves. What is clearly evident here is how well you know your students and how much you respect them. Thank you for sharing this - I will definitely use it with new middle school teachers (and experienced teachers).

[Dan Brown]

I like your rendering of Kino's "which way do I go" moment of truth.

I think the key to tilting more toward the "I'm going to be good" side comes with a long-term reward concept that they have bought into (college, grades, participation in something of interest, public exposure). I think this is as or more important than the personal relationship cultivated between the teacher and the student.

Ideally, Kino is making the right choice because he wants to be seen as a positive leader by all, not necessarily because he has a good rapport with his teacher and wants to do her a favor.

You brought this out well and I appreciate that you resisted the "Teacher Stamp of Approval."

[Ariel Sacks]

Interesting discussion about praise and student motivation. Sam and Mary, I think you've both made sense. I think talking to Kino about his leadership potential would be a good thing, and this incident could be a good example of it. I resisted talking to him about it in the moment because I didn't want to risk him thinking I'm praising him for self-centered reasons, because he "obeyed" me that day. But it may not matter, because he and I both know it wasn't for the teacher. This is a very bright student who cares about doing well in school, but only to a certain point. I've seen him stand up to teachers or boycott assignments if he thinks something is unreasonable (often he's right, but not always). I think what happened was that MY action got the Kino Stamp of Approval, and students know Kino only does what he believes, which is why he swayed the class. Very powerful.

Dan's point about the long-term reward concept as a motivation for choosing to "be good" has got me thinking. I agree it does have to do with conceptual thinking, but I wonder if it needs to be a future-oriented thing. I think, at least at the middle school level, it has more to do with group process than future--although ability to delay gratification factors in. It is in the best interest of the group follow a leader who can teach them and keep them safe. The students are constantly evaluating whether or not they believe their teacher is that leader, whether or not to trust the teacher's judgements. Some students are also stuck in ego-stages of development, where, even if they respect the teacher and their classmates, they have difficulty putting the needs of the group above their own personal needs/wants in the moment. I find that some of these students are motivated by grades and want to go to college, but do not know how to function in a community...or vice versa--students who are not motivated by grades or future plans, but do know how to make choices with the whole community in mind. This is leadership. Gangs are notorious for recruiting young kids with strong leadership skills, but limited plans for the future. The role of the teacher is very interesting in this light--can we give such students real leadership roles that compete with the leadership opportunities gangs appear to provide? How does this connect to these students' concept of the future? How important is the future? Is it possible to make NOW meaningful enough for students that they don't have to make decisions based on their goals for the future? [I know I did not. School was easy for me, and I liked learning, so I just did it. I did not connect it with my future plans, especially in middle school.]

Thoughts?

[Hadass Eviatar]

Fascinating discussion, thanks for putting it on Twitter, Ariel! I do subscribe to your blog, but I'm horribly behind on my reading.

I love the way you describe the moment of leadership, and your loving but deadly accurate description of grade 8 group dynamics ;-).

I'm thinking that maybe speaking to Kino privately would allow him to know how much you, personally, appreciate what he did, without the dreaded Teacher Stamp of Approval? After all, we all like to be thanked by people who are important in our lives, and there is no question that you are important in his life right now.