Warm Demander

I just finished the second day of my placement with Frau Sommers' German class, and it was quite interesting. Just to give some background information, there is a concept called being a "Warm Demander". To put it simply, it means to demand something from students (or anyone) using a nice and respectful tone, while also making sure the students listen. The opposite of a warm demander would be a someone who shouts, or uses foul language in an attempt to have students listen.

Anyways, I was helping grade presentations during the class when something interesting happened. A student was causing a disruption and had to be escorted out of the room for a couple of minutes by the teacher, and I was left in charge. Alone. Just me and 15 high school students who were the same age as me. I don't know what they were thinking, but I knew they thought that they could get away with things because I was in charge and there was no teacher in the room.

As soon as the teacher left, they ambushed me all at the same time, asking me if they could go to the Spartan Union (or coffee shop). They told me that it would only take "five minutes" (more like 30 minutes if they actually would have gone) and Frau Sommers would never even know they were gone. After a full 2 seconds of debating whether or not to let them go, I knew that I would have to be a warm demander in order to make sure they stayed in the room. From pure observation I knew that if I let them go, they would never come back. With that in mind, I told them that it would be better if they stayed in the classroom, and that I did not have the authority to let them leave the classroom for more then five minutes. They didn't agree with me, but I didn't give in.

I was so nervous and worried that they were going to rebel and leave anyways, but they stayed (thank goodness). I can't even imagine what would have happened if I would have let them go. If I would have yelled at them to stay, they could have gotten mad and left anyways. Luckily, I used my skills as a warm demander, and they respected me for it.

On a lighter note, my second task was to help grade presentations, and it came naturally. I was worried I was going to be a harsh grader and mark off a point for every mistake, but I saw how having a good rubric makes it simple to grade. The rubric was made with the understanding that mistakes would be made, and that students cannot master what they have not learned yet.