A difficult class: classroom management

This year I've had a young lady from England living with me (henceforth known as "Padawan") who is learning how to be an elementary school teacher. She is working with kids from 1st to 5th grade in two primary schools in predominately Muslim neighborhood of immigrants. She often has discipline issues ranging from kids not listening to kids talking back to kids stabbing each other with scissors. Every time she comes to me with a problem, I feel like I have an answer.

"Separate the trouble-maker from the rest of the class."
"Put your safety and the children's safety first! Kid stabbing with scissors = out, no question."
"A cool "Simon Says"-style behavior game to get them back on track." (this one REALLY works with little kids, too.)
"Be encoraging. Make them love English. If they love it, they'll listen." (so true.)

She's been trying different things and gaining confidence in stride. The more confidence you have as a teacher, the better you can handle situations that don't go your way in the classroom. I can see that it's getting better because she comes home looking a little bit happier every day and seems more and more comfortable with the discipline and classroom management aspects of the classroom. She's really adapting well and I'm very proud of her.

With all of that in mind today, I went off to meet my newest class. Back in May I decided to stop teaching students but six months later here I am, face to face with young adults again. Ironically enough my new students are the same age as my two host daughters and their friends, and the girls and I get along fabulously.  I figured it would be a good experience. Here's the background:

Students are  in a two year business school, working and going to school at the same time. This means that if for whatever reason they are thrown out of school, they also lose their job and vice-versa.

These particular students are in the second year and are considered a "slightly difficult" class. When a director is trying to sell you a class and he calls them slightly difficult, you can read between the lines that the class is actually very difficult. However, I've had difficult classes before and managed them successfully, so that isn't impossible for me.

In the past what I did to win over my "difficult" classes was take the time to listen to the kids, because they just wanted to talk. I asked them what they wanted to learn, and that's what I taught. I made interactive exercises, brought in topics of interest for discussion, and forged relationships with them. I still get updates from kids in that class and it was four years ago. After the first lesson, I saw that as a challenge for my own personal development and I attacked. In the end, I won.

This time around, I thought for sure that these kids would be different exactly because they are already in the working world and have different priorities. Unfortunately for me, that wasn't the case at  all. In the first five minutes of class, I had already lost them. They were completely gone. They wouldn't listen to a word I said.

Class continued with constant chatter -- and not just whispers, all out chatter and shouting across the room to friends. There were insults made at other classmates and at me, and more "je n'arrive pas"s and "je ne veux pas" and "je n'ai pas envie" than I have ever heard before (basically "I can't do it" and "I don't want to do it). I would explain an exercise and before I knew it there were kids talking again. When the exercise wasn't done correctly and I tried to ask why, the reply I got was, "well I didn't understand." OF COURSE you didn't understand. YOU WEREN'T LISTENING. 

Rule #1 to learning languages: You have to listen.

Rule #2 to learning languages: Don't laugh at each other. 

Rule #3 to learning languages: You have to try. You have to make an effort.

These kids had broken all rules within the first 30 seconds. There was simply no going back. I carried on, trying my best to keep everybody on task and working but they were just too far gone into their pit of "I don't understand", laughing at each other and making jokes about me.

I ended class ten minutes early as soon as the exercise was finished. There was no way we could work constructively. At the end of class, they thanked me, I put on my coat and took my bag and basically ran for the door.

To say I'm not proud is an understatement, but I was on the verge of tears like I've never been before. I immediately called the director and informed him of all the problems surrounding this group of students. He was "unaware" that the situation had gotten so bad but insured me that house would be cleaned if I wanted to stay. I'm all for second chances and facing challenges, but wow -- in the space of an hour and a half, I lost all -- not a portion or a part -- but all of my motivation. It was just... horrible.

So here I sit, knowing that he's going to call me tomorrow expecting an answer. What do I say? What should I do? The teacher in me -- the one that teaches for everybody, for the kids that want to learn -- say that I have to go back. But the expert in me says it's not worth my time or my energy.

For now, I'm just going to think about it and then I'll see tomorrow and next Monday.

Right when you think you have all the answers... you get a reminder that you still have so much to learn. As teachers, we just never stop learning. So there ya go.