Wednesday, February 15, 2012

To Wait or Not To Wait

As I've mentioned recently, working with an intern is so good for my thought processes. Walking down the hall with my class from lunch we passed a bunch of artwork on the floor drying. The kids were walking really close to the art and I almost said something to them. Something made me hesitate and I kept my mouth shut, luckily. They were walking so close because they were trying to see the art. They were very careful and respectful.

My initial reflection on this was that it's good to hesitate and not say anything, to wait and see what will happen rather than assume what might. With a slightly longer reflection I hesitated (see, hesitation is good). Sometimes I don't hesitate, I step in to keep something from happening. I may walk over to a student to stand near them so that they don't get off task. I might walk near a certain point in our line as we head down the hall.

It seems that when I step in ahead of an issue, I try to do so non-verbally. Interesting. Now it is going to be a goal to only step in non-verbally and otherwise to wait and see what happens. Then, I'll wait and see how that goes.

3 comments:

Kassia said...

I love to read about how intentional you are with your words or silence. I know my reaction is to say, "Walk around the art!!" as we pass art outside classrooms, when they probably don't need me to say this. They probably just want to check out (respectfully) what the other kids have made.

Rebecca said...

I awarded you the Liebster Blog award! Thanks for your blog! I like this post and to hear your thoughts on teaching and your students.

Come visit my blog to snatch your award!
http://thejoyofliteracy.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-first-award.html

Jenny said...

Kassia, reading your comment almost made me laugh. I don't feel like I am nearly intentional enough! It is something I'm always working on.

Rebecca, Thank you! That is so sweet.