The old teacher's saying goes, "Don't smile until Christmas". This is supposed to give the students enough time with your stern, I-mean-business face so that they believe it and stay in line, on task, and out of trouble.
Being generally smiley and not a very stern type, I struggle with this each year. I want my students to know that I am on their side, that I care about them and their education, that I am cheering for them. (How do you cheer with your eyebrows down?) The flipside of this is that I sometimes have students out of line, off task, and in trouble. Trying to balance the off-taskness with the "we are loving learning, excited about educating ourselves, and can't wait to see what's coming next" is, I believe, more difficult but more effective than hiding behind a Miss Nelson's alter-ego for 4 months...
So here's to smiling in September. Cheers!
