Observing Two Naturals

After lunch I watched the students who had been on top of the coat closet enter a new teacher's classroom. The teacher greeted them warmly at the door. The students took their seats as they entered, looked at the chalkboard where an assignment was posted, and went to work.

When the bell to begin class rang, no one looked up. The students worked on a math assignment for about twenty minutes. Then, there was a lesson transition. The teacher said,

"I want you to place your papers here on the corner of my desk. If you need to sharpen pencils, now is the time to do it. Get a drink of water if you need to, and return to your seats."

I thought, this is where chaos sets in.

However, the students did as the teacher instructed and were back in their seats ready to go in 41 seconds. The teacher then conducted a group discussion in which the students took turns. Since the faculty at UCLA couldn't do that on the best day of their lives, I was thoroughly impressed. Throughout the class period the students looked like any well-mannered group of kids.

I might have written this experience off as a fluke had not the second teacher of the afternoon gotten similar results with the refugees from the morning's group discussion. She had her own style, of course, but, with apparent ease, she got respectful behavior and good work.

As far as the management of discipline is concerned, I observed three characteristics of these teachers that I will never forget.

• They were not working hard at discipline management. In fact, they were not working very hard at all.
• They were relaxed.
• They were emotionally warm.

At the very least, I learned that discipline management did not have to be humorless or stressful or time-consuming. You certainly do not have to wait until December to smile. Rather, these teachers had the simple luxury of enjoying the process of teaching.

How could two classes that were so out of control in one setting look so normal in another setting? I returned to these classrooms daily for the remainder of the week, hoping to discover the secret. All that I saw were two "old pros" making it look easy.