T O P I C :

Professionalism
and Boundaries

Martha raises the issue: In my current rotation, there appears to be a culturally accepted behavior that troubles me. On a daily basis, without exception, an adult has interrupted the class during instructional time. Whether it is a classroom teacher, a counselor or another staff member, someone has walked in during the class time and interrupted instruction to talk to the teacher. On two occasions, people walked in during student presentations, leaned down to whisper in the teacher's ear, and asked a question or made a comment. To be clear, the reasons for the interruptions have sometimes been as non-critical as, "What do you think about that extra meeting we have after school this week?"

Obviously, each school has its own culture of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Just last week, I heard many of my fellow MAT's discussing different schools' tolerance levels for students who text, use cell phones, wear ear buds, use iPhones or listen to iPods during school time, and specifically during instructional activities. It sounded like many of you have ideas about what is and isn't acceptable and what should and shouldn't go on in a school.

When we accept a position to teach at any school, we are tacitly accepting a position within that school's culture. However, all of us are doing a lot of work to plan for our "ideal" classroom environments. How are we going to cope with behaviors that are acceptable within a school but unacceptable within our classroom environments? Do we abandon our own expectations and standards because they are not upheld by our colleagues and administration? Do we try to maintain our expectations and standards at the risk of alienating those around us? Is there a happy medium? I expect there is, though I have yet to find it. If we, however gracefully, uphold our ideals, what risk do we pose to our acceptance in a new community of colleagues and potential collaborators?

I have been pondering this a lot and have yet to draw any truly satisfying conclusions. I thought about putting a sign on the door that reads, "Please come back. Class in progress," but that seemed potentially offensive. There are no other teachers I've seen who post such a sign. I thought about having a dialogue with the individuals who interrupted, but didn't like the way I appeared to be holier-than-thou, or ignorant and disrespectful of the existing culture when I played out the scenarios in my mind. Speaking with a principal seemed a particularly poor choice — after all, the administration participates in these behaviors.

As we plan to become integrated in already existing professional communities, how are we going to deal with behaviors, expectations and standards that conflict with our own? What skills can we hone now, in practice, so that we are prepared to deal effectively and positively with the inevitable conflicts that arise when our colleagues do not behave in our classrooms as we would hope they would?

Posted November 16, 2008

R E S P O N S E :

Please Knock Before Entering.

Stephanie Stidham writes: This could sound very elementary, but could you hang a sign outside the door that says, "Please Knock Before Entering." This might set a more formal tone for your room.

If I had an unimportant question, I would not want to knock on the door of a classroom. You might also assign a "Greeter" for when you do get a knock. Most students can't wait to jump up out of their seat, so having a rotating position to answer the door might become a coveted position. I know we are in secondary classrooms, but I find that these kids are just that ... kids ... and my ninth graders still want "cookie bookie" days. (Does anyone know what that is??)

Obviously, the hard part is that the room is not your room, so hanging signs and giving out "roles" is slightly more challenging, but we are all working with what we've got, right?

Posted November 30, 2008

R E S P O N S E :

Keep the Door Locked.

Kelli Cole writes: I’m not sure that this suggestion would work in the environment you are in right now since the classroom is not “yours.” However, once you are in a classroom of your own, you might just keep your door locked. Keeping your door locked could help not only with the interruptions of the other faculty and staff, but could also benefit you in many other ways.

First, most schools these days have some plans in place for unauthorized intruders in the building. Generally these plans include locking your door and moving all of the students to a safe area of the room. By already having your door locked, you save precious time and possibly keep your students out of harm’s way.

Second, if your students know that the door is locked, they might cut down on the number of times they ask to leave the room. If they know that they will have to knock every time they come back into class while class is going on, they may be discouraged from doing this so often.

Lastly, and back to your point, keeping your door locked implies the sign Stephanie suggested of “Please knock before entering.” Interrupting staff members will have to knock in order to get your attention. If they know that your door is locked and that they will have to knock in order to ask whatever non-critical question they have, they may also be discouraged from doing it too often.

Posted December 1, 2008

R E S P O N S E :

A Monomaniacal Devotion

John O'Berski writes: I, too, have experienced more of this sort of casual dropping in at my new rotation, and I must confess it bothers me as well. One day, during a particularly tense moment in my intensively rehearsed, totally driven read-aloud of "The Tell-Tale Heart," someone brought a new student into our class, and so we had to stop and make welcoming introductions. I understand the necessity of such business, but the only reason this student hadn't come at the start of class is that she was being given a (leisurely) tour by another student, who apologized for interrupting, but seemed wholly unaware of the concept of timing. I wanted to be polite, but hurried this transition, explaining, "We're right in the middle of an intense story now, so I'll introduce you to the rest of the class afterward." This, at least, hurried the departure of her ambassador and reminded the other students to stay engaged.

Another day, the librarian poked her head in during a particularly key portion of class, and I gave her a not unkind, yet not wholly relaxed look as I finished my point and she retreated with a, "I'll just come by between classes." I'm not trying to be rude or even strict in such circumstances, but, like the "Tell-Tale" narrator, I am sometimes too committed to my set purpose to embrace distraction.

The suggestion about making a "Knock Before Entering" sign is a good one. I offer my experiences as a possible back-up. Often I request that students see me after class or during lunch to clear up extraneous details if we have a pressing agenda, which is most often the case. If you answer the door while still continuing in your task-at-hand, asking the visitor with a highly anticipatory, more interjected than full-stopped, "Yes?", perhaps they will feel your classroom momentum washing over them and come back later. At least they may keep it brief, or if not, you may be able to postpone the conversation with a swimmer's breath of "CanIgetbackwithyou?" between the more serious ongoing strokes of your lesson.

I agree, it is difficult to shape a classroom that is not your own, and one doesn't want to alienate new colleagues, but if one can present more of a monomaniacal devotion to the act of teaching literature as opposed to some holy or personal peevishness, maybe they will respect your vigor and wonder if they should not, perhaps, find something more important to attend to, or, at least, someone more lax to yak with.

Still sorting this one out myself, John O.

Posted December 2, 2008

R E S P O N S E :

It's All about Attitude

Scott Koenig writes: I have definitely noticed different climates in my different rotations. At one school, it would be considered rude and unprofessional to bother a class while in progress. At the other, teachers hop in and out of classrooms at the beginning of classes.

Though the second situation sounds bothersome,
I do notice more collaboration between teachers at this school. There seems to be an accepted air concerning these open doors, which I don’t think is such a bad thing. Sometimes teachers think they can exist on an island by just closing their door and taking care of only “their classroom.” I think, to a degree, as teachers we need to be more willing to have an open door for our colleagues to approach us.

Having said that, there is a point where the interruptions become ridiculous and wasteful. I think the first time another teacher is sort of admonished — “We can talk about this later,” while waving them away — they will hopefully get the idea not to bother you. If that doesn’t work, I’d try joking with them later about it, while also hoping they can get yet another hint. And really, after those couple of tries, just giving them a blunt assessment of the situation will finally have to get the message across.

Really, I think it’s all about the attitude you have when addressing the situation with your colleagues. I think they’ll completely understand if you approach your talk with them in a casual, relaxed manner.

Posted December 5, 2008

E-mail your suggestions and comments to fbowles@uark.edu