Classroom Management

Classroom management is a challenge in rural Guatemala. Either because they do not know how or because they have given up, teachers do not enforce classroom rules. Students pass through six years of primary school with no conditioning in the norms necessary for successful learning, and when they arrive in middle school, they (especially the boys) are entitled monsters. Too many middle school teachers are content to shout their lessons over the handful of student conversations and disruptions. Students have never been told to raise their hands to participate—calling out is the norm. Simply put, there are no expectations for student behavior, and there are absolutely no enforcement mechanisms. But not in the class of Seño Katalina.


A seventh grade class on Tuesday was the perfect storm: the students didn’t know me and were unfamiliar with my rules, it was right before recess, their regular teacher was out at a meeting, and we were studying sex ed (a giggly topic). I reviewed my rules at the beginning of class and explicitly stated my expectations for their behavior. However, like going four rounds in a boxing match, I had to pull out all my punches from my classroom management repertoire.

When the students delayed in opening their notebooks and stopping their conversations, I looked at my watch and started taking minutes off of their recess—6 minutes total.


Then when kids were paying for photocopies, one wild child screamed at me, “¡OTRO!” meaning that he wanted another photocopy. I have never experienced such disrespect from a Guatemalan student. I stopped, turned icy cold, and said, “Never speak to a teacher like that. That shows no respect. You are a young adult—act like it.” When that kid returned five minutes later to ask permission to go to the bathroom, I relished answering, “No.” That kid continued acting up, and eventually I had to send him to the director’s office with a 100-word essay assignment.

Then recess arrived. I told the class that I would count to 30 seconds after the bell rang at the end of recess, and if they weren’t in the room by then, there would be consequences. (As far as I know, no other teacher has this rule, and so most students extend recess for five minutes. I seem to be the only person who values classroom time). Despite my warnings, there were six late stragglers. I had already given out extra homework…what other punishment was left?


Taking inspiration from a conversation with a fellow Peace Corps volunteer, I pulled out the ultimate penitence: wall sits. During five minutes of wall sits, the six boys groaned, whined, and sometimes called out in pain. I felt like the Spanish inquisition—inventing terrible tortures to enforce conformity (but they deserved it). After that, I had 100% compliance from the class. No one else dared to test what horrors I would cook up. As I left school that day, the boys jokingly pleaded, “Seño, take us home on your bike! My legs hurt!”


The positive in all this is that the students eventually get it. The students from my classes last year know my rules, expectations, and hand signals. They respect me for it. I obserced a crazy class that another teacher was leading, and when I spoke up the room automatically quieted—they know that I will not talk over them. This week I’m giving a presentation to the new Youth Development trainees about classroom management. I’ll share my repertoire and provide tips…and I’ll definitely endorse wall-sits.