"Mr. Flemming, can we go in the hallway?"

The culture we create as teachers in our classrooms determines so much more than what can be written in a single blog post. The same can be said of building administrators and I say it quite often, "It's the culture you create. It's the culture you create. It's the culture you create."

I'm not a perfect teacher, but I do pride myself in my attempts to keep trying, to keep reaching, to try something new, different, and fresh, to make average good, good better, and better the very best!

One thing I started teaching explicitly as the situations arose was talking. Talking out problems. Identifying possible solutions. Listening. I've been known to say, even in my years teaching middle school grades "3rd grade problem, 3rd grade solution. YOU solve the conflict before I do."

There have been times I've brought all parties out into the hallway to work out a problem, with my demonstrating how to listen, how to sift the facts out from what one "thought" were the facts and to discuss a possible solution. These sessions have been quick 2-minute sessions with my leaving the kids out in the hallway to arrive at a solution. That's the new school part of me. The old school part of me also told them that they had better come up with a resolution or that I would come up with one, PE-RI-OD!! That was incentive enough! (I can hear the progressives now, counterproductive?? Well, I am still a work in progress. I believe in a mixture of some things old and some things new.)

Since I've allowed such sessions in the hallway, kids will come up to me and say "Mr. Flemming, can me and ___ go in the hallway?" or "Mr. Flemming, me and so-n-so need to resolve a conflict, can we go in the hallway?" Many times I say yes. And to be honest, sometimes I'm like "ummm, oh boy, what did I start?" I do give in 99.2% of the time because conflict resolution is an important soft (or maybe even a hard) skill for life!!

Today a couple of kids, after a 30 minutes, even pulled a Flem and said, "Mr. Flemming, we need so-n-so out here because we can't solve it without him," implying he may have been a witness or a part of the problem from the start.

Despite the tests of my adjusting to 3rd grade, they are making me proud in so many ways!

Note: I've also taught them to ask to be excused to the hallway to FART!!!!
Sheesssh!!! They will cut the cheese right there in the room!!!! lol
Now, they ask and I LET THEM GO OUT and walk it off!!!!!
{Insert laughing with tears emoji}