Regardless which group, though, the reality is all of my kids have wildly misplaced perspectives on art education. As I’ve stated in another post, they expect my class to be fun, a time for them to make a little craft and socialize with their friends. Anything difficult or challenging isn’t well received. Much of what brought this on is the fact that I have begun art appreciation/criticism and will soon start art history. The introduction of these topics has brought with it reading and writing assignments, a break from hands-on work.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t regret my curricular direction. I’m in alignment with what I’m to teach according to my State; however, I’m disappointed with how I’ve reacted in-class emotionally with my students. I’ve allowed their toxicity and negativity to poison me. That was an important statement for me to make—to someone else and myself. My school, while free of violence (minus the occasional fight), has real problems with discipline. The students have dictated their own course for enough years that it has made taking the school back—for lack of a better way of putting it—a challenging proposition. Consistency among the teaching staff hasn’t helped those efforts, though positive steps have been made and things are better than last year. Still much work remains and the students resent the educational and disciplinary imposition. I am one of a few teachers that is pushing back hard on the students with regards to the disciplinary code. It hasn’t won me any kudos from them and some of that negativity has crept into my class.

Long-story-short, the problem for me is with myself. That’s why I’m writing the post. These kids are a product of their environment. They don’t care about art because it’s not been a part of their life outside of pop culture. How can I expect them to behave differently. I don’t have control over their reactions, but I do have control over mine. I have noticed an increase in yelling, responding quickly and harshly to students and delivering my lessons flatly. While I don’t make excuses that my class is hard, I don’t need to compound their experience with a harder and edgier me. That’s a change I plan on amending now that I’ve recognized the degree to which this has occurred.

I know I’m not alone in having these feelings and experience. What I’m looking for are strategies and recommendations on making a change. As a Christian, I know what my responsibilities are before the Lord regarding my vocation. He is ultimately the author of true heart change and I believe that he’s lead me to this point. I’m thankful for that. He also works through people. Your experience in the classroom and life can be an additional means of grace to me. So, talk to me. I want to hear from you about this.

Do I say this because I like to see African-American and Latino kids under stricter discipline than their Caucasian suburban counterparts? Actually, it has nothing to do with ethnicity at all. Frankly, I have been joking from last year that I think my school (and the surrounding district) should be taken over by the military. My school doesn’t deal with violence thankfully but disrespect and other discipline-related issues rank as number 1 on the list of why new teachers leave. Frankly, if a suburban school had the discipline issues my school struggles with then I’d recommend this type of solution-if you want to call it that-for those schools as well.

It makes me wonder why the discipline issues in urban schools are so different than (most) suburban schools. I know in my school we have a lot of professional development days dealing with culture and such things. Namely, the thought that  whites don’t get black culture and don’t see how this divergence manifests itself in the classroom. I can appreciate that up to a point, of course. Yet, many black friends I speak with don’t get it either. They roll their eyes when I recount some of the things the professionals come in to speak with us about concerning urban culture and the differences of urban students in the classroom. Like I said, I can embrace their points somewhat but there remains a good chunk of their argument that I find untenable.

I’ll talk more about this, but I wonder if anyone else had anything to contribute to this discussion (about the issue, in general, and the article, in particular).

Today, I was walking up the stairs on my way to my third period class and a student had his cell phone out (a no-no). I asked him to put it away (vs. confiscating it like I’m supposed to do). After continuing on his way (and ignoring me), I pressed the issue to which he told me to get out of his face.

Later that same day, I walked out of my class only to see this same student speaking with the hall monitor who sits directly outside my room. Well, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity and so I asked the teacher the student’s name. He told me which prompted the student to launch into this tiring series of invectives and obscenities as he walked away from us. Whether they were directed at me, my teacher friend or both of us was uncertain since we were standing together. Irrelevant, I suppose.

In the end, I did write up the student and plan to speak with his grade-level team leader tomorrow. What shocked me is what started this whole sordid ordeal—his inflammatory response to me asking him to put away his phone. What it turned into, for me, was an internal monologue about what strange guidelines governing what gets classified as snitching in students’ minds.

Frankly, I can’t say I relate at all to this particular perception of snitching. I have had conversations about snitching on an abstracted level with students while we’re in class and they are working. For me it comes down to holding people responsible for their actions. I have to say that even when the students see my point they still consider it snitching. Baffling.

I have also gotten into discussions about this topic with other urban school teachers (since it doesn’t seem to factor in nearly as much for teachers in suburban districts). Not surprisingly, some of my colleagues throw the “culture” card thinking that just because “it’s the way of the street” that such a thing makes it proper or true.

Anyone want to share from his/her own experiences?