Hard News: The Chaos Component

Who doesn't want to be recognized and adored? I'll tell you who: no one. And yet we wait for it, dance and strut for it, clamor for it. Nowhere is this behavior more evident than in the classroom.

From both sides: Both the student and the teacher are needy. The mix can be daunting for first-timers. I certainly found classroom chaos overwhelming and traumatic in my first few years. To this day, I wake every Wednesday morning with a knot in my stomach because it's Shakespeare Club day and I may lose the grip....It could happen.

I have had to discipline myself to say: It is not important that they fall in love with me, but for me to facilitate them falling in love with themselves.

Here's a recent article about the struggle, followed by my response, which was printed in the "Letters to the Editor section.

Controlling a classroom isn't as easy as ABC (Seema Mehta, LA Times)

(Click on scan to enlarge.)