Friday, June 11, 2010

Mr. Holland's Marching Drills

For some inexplicable reason, many kids don't seem to know how to walk in line. It could be that they just don't do it with me, or it could be that they never learned how to do it. I will say that I sometimes do get classes where they can walk along quietly and keep up with each other, but those classes tend to be better behaved all around.

One of the things I plan to do on the occasion that I finally get my own classroom, is to drag my kids outside and teach them how to walk in line. I may do it every single day for the first month of school. The vision I have is of the scene in Mr. Holland's Opus, where he drafts the PE teacher who formerly served in the military to teach the band kids how to march. I can see myself taking a line of kids out to the basketball court or to the athletic field - wherever a line is painted- and drilling them endlessly until they can pay attention and walk along properly.

To me, it's just a part of discipline. If the kids can't get from place to place without looking like wild animals, what is the management like inside the classroom?

It's just one of many things on my "to-do" list after this year of subbing. The list is growing.

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