Teacher Trouble? Best Behaviours to Break the Ice!

By: Alina D. W. and Kyra K., Grade 6

Have you ever been in a classroom with a teacher when they got mad and couldn’t figure out why? Have you ever wondered what you can do to get on the good side of your teacher?

Well, these questions and more will be answered in this story! We have interviewed four teachers in total (Ms. Clark, Ms. Rizzo, Ms. Garcia, and Ms. Tousignant) and asked them each four questions about their likes and dislikes about student behaviour. What behaviours they liked and disliked and what was something a student did that they still remember. We also asked them to compare behaviours in their different classes and their teaching career in general. When asking Ms. Clark what behaviours were like in math compared to science, she answered that students are a little more relaxed and comfortable being risk-takers in science than in math.

“But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not engaged or trying in math class,” Science and Math Teacher Ms. Clark said.

Speaking of comparing behaviours, Drama Teacher Ms. Rizzo says that when she was teaching in Thailand, they had a really different culture; and for them, it was quite common for students to come in and almost ignore her. For example, if a child entered the class and Ms. Rizzo would say ‘good morning, how are you?’ Then that kid would go sit down and not respond.

“That year I really didn’t get to know much at all about my students,” Ms. Rizzo said.

We also interviewed I&S Ms. Garcia and asked what the difference was with students when she started teaching, compared to now. She says that childrens’ attention spans are shorter, and that their vocabulary and ability to concentrate on one thing is lower too. Lastly, we asked Ms. T what the difference is with EAL class and journalism class, she says that EAL classes are smaller and therefore the students have more time with the teacher individually, whereas in journalism, the students have more freedom.

“We take a lot of time to discuss things, write things down,” Ms. T said (Ms. T, journalism, and EAL teacher).

This shows how much behaviours vary in different classes, schools, times, and cultures. Finally, the answer to our question, is that from the teachers we interviewed their most frequent ‘pet peeve’ is when students interrupt others while they are talking, or anything that disrespects and stops others from learning. And the behaviour that they appreciate is when students are respectful, work hard and add on to other thoughts so the class can learn together.So next time you have class, you’ll know how to behave! For more information about the interviews and what all the teachers said, check out the video bellow