Making Lemonade

​I had a really rough class last week with my 8th graders. They'd been using a Chinese word pretty regularly in class that I suspected was a swear word. So I decided to call them out on it. When I heard a student using the word, I'd ask them what they said. And what did they do? As you can probably imagine, they totally lied to me. Then their classmates backed them up. 
I left that class pretty furious and went directly to the Mandarin teacher to confirm my suspicions (it's like the worst word you can say in Mandarin). Then I started stewing... Losing sleep... Plotting my revenge...
Because of the schedule, it turned out that I didn't see this class again for a week, which was probably a good thing. I asked a colleague for five minutes with them at the end of her class the next day, and I let them know that I knew what they were saying, and I was really disappointed with them. I tried to make sure they understood that it wasn't the profanity that really bugged me (I use profanity, although I don't throw it around in public), it was the dishonesty. Also, that this was an indicator of a bigger problem with this class: the lack of academic language in our daily discourse. 
Silence... Blank stares... Some guilty looks... Some grins...
So then we all had a week to think about it. I spent a lot of mental energy on it, although I doubt they did. I got an email from one of the students involved apologizing for the profanity, but didn't hear anything else.
The next time I had them in class, I started out by making sure they understood the problems:

1. Dishonesty- I can't teach this class the way I want to if I can't trust you.
2. Academic Language- The language we use in class directly affects our ability to respond to directions and show our understanding using the language of the classroom, regardless of our home language.
3. Responsibility- All of us need to take responsibility for the language we use in this class. It's not always enough for YOU to do the right thing; sometimes you need to take the time to encourage those around you to do the right thing. It's your learning, so take charge!

And then I went on strike. "I can't teach you until we figure this out. I've tried everything I know how to do, and it's not working. You fix it. I'll be at my desk when you've got a solution."
I sat at my desk in the corner and left them to have a conversation. Slow start... leaders emerge... They ended up having a pretty decent conversation for 8th grade students. 

• Punishment! - But punishment doesn't work.
• Only English in class! - But sometimes you need things translated that you don't understand
• Why should I care? - I care!

They ended up passing around a whiteboard and each writing some personal agreements on it about how they would contribute to a solution​. Also came up with some norms/rules addressing when/why mother tongue is needed (I was actually impressed with this: it's pretty close to what I would have had them do if this was teacher-led). 

Take aways from the students

Roleplaying

After about 45 minutes, I stepped in and gave a little direction to solidify and wrap things up, and then led them through some roleplaying scenarios (1 plays teacher and 2 play students).

• Teacher is teaching and you have no idea what he's talking about. What do you do?
  • Raise my hand, ask to have it translated, partner translates.
• Partner is speaking about math in non-academic language
  • Ask partner to repeat in AL, help her if she needs it.
• Partner is speaking in English, about math, but using incorrect terminology
  • Correct partner by paraphrasing using AL
• ​Partner is speaking in any language about something not related to math class
  • "We're in math class. Let's stick to the material."

Then I actually got to finish up class by teaching a little math!

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The school trip is coming up, so again, we have a long period of time until our next class. I feel like they did some good work today, and I hope it sticks. At least it got them talking and thinking about this.
Take-aways, Lessons Learned:

• I need to be more intentional about classroom management
• I need to remember to involve students in formulating classroom norms
• I need to do more of this in the beginning of the year (while responding to a problem can be a powerful way to learn and grow, it might be better not to have the problem in the first place)
• I need to remember to give myself and my students space to reflect when things go poorly