About 3 years ago I acquired a new bus run with k-2 students. It had been about 10 years maybe less since I have bussed any of this age group. Not really the age group I specialize in. Apparently I can be a scary person J for several people I know who have worked or work in grade school situations told me to speak gently and smile when I deal with these younger grades.
I started out that part of my run doing just that, explaining what I need them to do, doing so with a soft tone to my voice, friendly and with a smile. After several weeks of doing this there was little to no improvement on the bus. Yes I had even held them accountable in a soft kind voice, working with discipline within the bus that is available and writing up students, explaining why. I never had to write up these age groups before.
I finally decided to pull over the bus and give them a bit of a talk. Finding a safe location, I did this, got up and faced the students with a smile. I got their attention after several friendly requests to get quiet. I told them how I looked for and received advice on how to get them to do what I needed them to do. I was to smile, be friendly, explain what I needed, and to hold them accountable. I told the students how I have used it for several weeks, yet the bus behavior had yet to improve. I then used what my wife calls my counselor face (I was a camp counselor a couple years worked in summer camping for 7 years full time, and have volunteered or worked at the same camp for many years since then), put an edge on my voice and raised it to a firm, no nonsense level. I told them since the kind friendly voice didn’t work I was going back to what had worked for me before. Yes, I did scare some. The students steadily improved on the bus from that point on.
John A Miller
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