Practice makes perfect.

And, yes, I think that sort of contrast makes them react, it's kinda scary in a certain way. Not that they are scared of you, but that they no longer know what's happening - what is this teacher going to do now?

The trick is putting your foot down a bit earlier. You can look just as stern, but you do not get angry.
And that's something that feels good, cause angry is not nice.

Indeed, though part of me is worried that I'm getting jaded.
When I first started teaching students I was super idealistic. Like "I am going to make sure you learn this! Make sure you thrive!"
And now I'm like "Okay it's clear that you don't even want to learn, let's just see how to get you to finish your homework on time..."

Ahhh yes, I'm still working on building that barrier so I don't take things personally and get angry at work/ at students. I am getting better though! Just a year or two ago I was making myself super upset when a day didn't go right, now I'm a lot more zen. Though I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but I tend to reflexively smile when something strikes me in the Anger Point (like when a student keeps making the same basic mistakes even though I taught it 10 times, and it's obvious that they just didn't even try), which again, depending on the student can be Super Effective or Detrimental

I am both super excited and terrified of starting in a public high school class tbh /D;;; What if the students gang up on me...

Well, one must become realistic, but there is still so much to get excited about.
My students did not enjoy logarithms, but they did love understanding how earthquakes are measured - and they understand that they need to endure the boring explanations so they get to the cool ones.

Well, if they gang up on you it's gonna be a hell of a time. You are gonna send them big balls of fire and the class will become a battefield for a time, until the powers settle. The battlefield will be left with plenty of corpses, and your reign of terror will being.
It's not the end - neither for the teacher nor for the students - but it's not nice.

Anyway this kind of thing does not happen frequently. They don't want that kind of war either.
You may have one or two troublesome students you may need to stop, and that's it.

Amura wrote: Well, if they gang up on you it's gonna be a hell of a time. You are gonna send them big balls of fire and the class will become a battefield for a time, until the powers settle. The battlefield will be left with plenty of corpses, and your reign of terror will being.
It's not the end - neither for the teacher nor for the students - but it's not nice.

That honestly sounds terrifying :O Has it ever happened to you before?

Also what grade do you teach? We never learned anything fun like how earthquakes are measured in our math classes D: I feel like I missed out...
Math was not my friend, I did well until Grade 11, when the numbers became letters... And then I stopped being able to comprehend the equations QAQ

No, it has never happened to me. Nor in any high school in which I've worked.
That kind of thing is unusual, and only happens in very complicated schools - you know, the ones in which many students in a class are potential delincuents.
I've heard of stuff like that but only in that kind of situations.

Usually you have nice kiddos and one rotten apple or two.
If the rotten apple is perceived by the rest of the class as amusing then you may need extra work to stop the bad attitude - if not it's usually quite easy.
I work with teenagers from 12 to 18, and despite the bad publicity people in that age are not that complicated nor that challenging.

<-- goes into teaching mode
Well, earthquakes intensity is measured in a log10 base. So if you add 1 to the magnitude you are actually multiplying the intensity for 10.
An earquake of magnitude 4 is 10 times an earquake of magnitude 3.
An earquake of magnitude 7 is 1000 times an earquake of magnitude 4.
That's why anything below 4 is hardly noticeable, but from 6 on it's dangerous and from 9 it's a cataclysm.

That is good to hear. I work with high school students mainly too, and most are nice enough with one or two bad attitude outliers. I'm glad to hear that this proportion remains the same in bigger classrooms

Thanks for the earthquake lesson! I learned something new today <3
So it's like how decibels work with sound huh, that makes a lot of sense.

Sharing some positive teaching vibes: Today I feel super happy because a student actually took time after class to tell me that my explanations helped her make sense of literary essay writing for the first time and helped her feel confident in her work. QAQ I immediately felt every tiredness leaving me ahh!!!

Yes, that's the usual proportion.
And if you try to find out about those outliers, you often find severe family issues which make you reconsider whether their behaviour is that bad...

Yes, exactly, decibels work the same way. And pH. Those are all common examples, usually they learn about them in Physics.
I usually mention them, but I dedicate a whole hour to earquakes cause they never really study those. And I bring photos from the Great Chilean Earthquake (9.5!!!) which has more impact than working with sound.


That's super nice, Natsu!
And there you are showing you are gaining their hearts, because more often than not they are shy about their progression and won't tell you a thing.

Since I've only done private tutoring, I haven't encountered students with extreme behaviour issues yet. The difficult ones I encounter are usually those who are... well, for a lack of better description, "disrespectful self-entitled brats". In which case yes it's due to their family, but really not in a way that makes you sympathize with them

Earthquakes really do have a better visual impact! This is super super enlightening actually. When I teach psychology there's a module on how sound works, and students have trouble grasping the decibel system. Next year I'll take a page out of your book and use earthquakes as an example for them! :DDDDD

Yesss, so many students are so self-conscious because they don't have faith in their abilities. It's a treasure when you can see them gain that confidence!

Ah, then you'll think of me when you tell them about earthquakes


Well, it's a complex age. Growing up is quite a challenge.
I kinda expect them to be a bit restless, and break a rule here and there. Not everybody, but it would be kinda weird if in a class all the kids behaved perfectly. It would be against nature.

I will make sure to credit you XD
(Students, this wonderful example comes from a lovely soul I met online, who taught me many many pieces of wisdom. No it's not sketchy at all)

Yeah high school is a confusing age. It's kind of fun actually to witness their little rebellious streaks and drama. Like, ah, to be young..