from “The Daily Grind” Philip W. Jackson
“Thus, when our young student enters school in the morning . . . it is a fairly stable environment—one in which the physical objects, social relations, and major activities remain much the same from day to day, week to week, and even, in some respects, from year to year . . . There is, in other words, a uniqueness to the student’s world.” (p118)
The words that stood out to me here were “stable environment.” I think it’s important for teachers to realize that for some students, school is the most stable force in their lives. Given that I taught in a junior high—a hotbed of emotional, physical, and social development—that’s crucial to remember. It’s important to remember that students are well used to the “daily grind” of the school day, and it’s quite a task to keep the environment stable and secure, while at the same time varied enough to maintain and pique interest. I was very proud of my classroom management when I taught. I manage to run a pretty tight ship with regard to how students interacted with themselves and me and because of this, I was able to do many varied activities with my class. It’s an interesting dichotomy . . . my students never knew what to expect when they walked into class each day (with regard to the lesson and what they would be doing), yet they always knew what to expect (with regard to my expectations about the class environment and the insistence I had on respectful interaction). One of my students once told me that my class didn’t even fell like a class . . . words I took as praise. The Jackson article brings a certain perspective to what we expect of students and a reminder that much of the students’ day becomes so ingrained in them. In my case, I only saw my students 42 minutes a day, unless I had them for homeroom. That’s a small window of time to a student, yet to me, it was never big enough. Teachers are tasked, I think, with taking that environment and keeping it stable and secure (and not a fun free for all) while at the same time, shaking it up enough to get students’ thinking, moving, and interacting in ways that make them think, when they leave, that it didn’t even seem like school. A difficult task, but not impossible.
