I am not a veteran teacher. There I said it. Being a teacher has made me feel obligated to be good (if not perfect) as a professional from day one. There is considerable responsibility involved in being an educator. The community has entrusted you to not only look after their children but to also instill in them foundational knowledge that will impact the rest of their lives. I don't just deliver content and grade coursework. I am, in many ways, a pseudo-parent. With all this responsibility comes great stress and a desire to live up to such high expectations. I am constantly reflecting on my practices and doubting myself.
All teachers have proven (in some way), before entering the class, proficiency in their subject. Most new teachers' experience with interpersonal conflict resolution and group dynamics is limited to what they've seen their own teachers do in the past and perhaps a credentialing class on behavioral theory.
Below are a smattering of the techniques I use for managing behavior in the classroom. I believe behavior is, at its core, managed by predetermined procedures for dealing with problems that arise. When individuals are presented with problems they already know the solution for, they are able to confidently confront them and come quickly to a resolution. When they are at a loss for what to do when presented with a novel situation they tend be more stressed and can make hasty decisions they later regret. I am always looking for ways to augment my repertoire whether it means replacing an old procedure with a new one, creating new ones as problems consistently arise, or simply learning about available techniques and critiquing them.
Things I do, that work for me (notice the emphasis):
In no particular order-
1. Have as many procedures for activities as you can. Teach them to the students until they are automatic.
2. Never let them control your emotions. Be stoic in the face of adversity, be excited when trying to engage. Don't let them make you yell. If you need to get loud do it for attention's sake and then quickly return to a normal speaking level.
3. Encourage students to respect noise pollution. Help students learn how to moderate their tone, volume, and language as appropriate for the situation.
4. Chide lack of materials, encourage responsibility, but always be prepared for those students who come without anything to work with. Have pencils and paper on hand at all times. Expect to run out. Often.
5. Minimize transition times. I like to map out my default desk arrangement on the floor with tape. This allows me to keep the class neat, but also to shift desk arrangements for different activities (testing, group work, lecture, discussion) but also able to quickly return the classroom to it original order. I also use this as part of my exit procedure.
6. Give immediate feedback. Whenever they do not meet your expectations tell them why they haven't; when they meet your expectations tell them so.
7. Be honest. I can't stress this enough. The more genuine and real you are as a person to these kids the more they will respect you. It is hard to trust what someone tells you about events in history that happened 50 or 60 years in the past when they can't even answer you straight about what's happening now.
8. The bell is irrelevant. They are not dismissed until you excuse them. [I believe the factory model school house where bells signal transition from class to class to be very demeaning. I would much prefer to watch the clock myself or appoint student timekeepers instead.] Create a list of expectations for what must be completed before they are allowed to leave. I require desks to be arranged correctly, trash to be cleaned from under their desks, everyone to be seated and quiet. I will then say anything I need to say to them and then release them.
9. Kill them with kindness: show mercy and forgiveness. When students fail to live up to my expectations I do not hold it against them. All things are in the past and everyone has the ability to affect positive change in their own life in every single moment of the day. You can start anywhere. Grudges never help anyone.
10. Be fair. No-brainer right? I catch myself treating students differently all the time. Whether it is which side of the class I lecture to more often or who I choose to speak or even how I respond to requests. I am always correcting myself. It's tough to be neutral with such diverse personalities.
11. Keep the sarcasm and one-liners to a minimum. Even if you're angry don't immediately respond. Breathe, calm your mind, and then act.
12. Be a learner. Modeling behavior is one of the most basic forms of teaching. If we want to teach students to learn then we must model being learners. Never forget that just because you're the teacher doesn't mean you aren't still a student.
13. Teach all the time. We cannot expect students to effectively manage time if we don't also. If you have extra time in the class you are doing something wrong. Make sure that down time is minimized and when it happens (it will) take advantage of it.
14. Exploit teachable moments. Don't meander off topic into tangent after tangent, but do take advantage of student failure as well as student inquiry to teach. If a student fails to live up to your expectations, do not immediately seek a punishment. Instead, reteach them. Reteach everyone.
15. Use peer pressure. The students are your allies. When you can, exploit peer pressure in your favor. If everyone is annoyed because one student cannot behave and they must continually suffer for it they will eventually let that person know. Encourage this. The classroom expectations should be what you expect from them, it should be what everyone expects from each other.
16. Be a benevolent dictator. I said it. My class is not democratic. There will be no mutinies. My word is final. However, I am open to suggestions and will fairly assess all your ideas and determine to what extent I will incorporate them. I will change my mind. I can accept when I am wrong. But that is my decision not my students' decision.
17. Be humble. Accept when you are wrong or when you do not know something. It is okay for teachers not to know everything. Even about their subject. However, do not let questions go unanswered. Encourage students to seek out the answers on their own. Be motivated to find answers to their questions and come back to them later. They are often good questions!
18. Make students teach. Teaching is one of the best ways to learn something. Is that a paradox? I have certainly become much more knowledgeable about history since I started teaching it. I have also become more knowledgeable about teaching. Doing is knowing. Explaining something helps you understand it better too.
19. Seek feedback from students. It is good to have a measure of what your students think about your performance. It is often critical. This is a good tool for reflection. Do not, however, think that it will be all negative. There will be real jewels of encouragement too.
20. Use what works, lose what doesn't In then end, all that matters is what produces results. It doesn't matter how you do it. Just what you get out of doing it.
Thoughts? Pearls to add? Feel free.
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The Jungle
1 day ago
As a young teacher eager to empower my student's self-regulatory and time-management skills, I have found that channeling my impulsive emotional responses (i.e.: anger, sarcasm, frustration) into a space of care and positivity has worked wonders. For instance, if a student is being disrespectful, I try and respond by saying something that will get her/him to explore the unconscious or conscious motivational root that is propelling their disrespect. For many "at-risk" students, it is not enough to sternly say "your behavior is inappropriate, please stop." These words are hollow and fall flat. Many students who exhibit severe behavorial problems have not learned the necessary skill of caring and respecting themselves; asking them to respect you and the classroom environment is pretty much hit or miss, depending upon the prior pos. or neg. events that the student experienced that day, which will undoubedtly sway her/his temperament.
ReplyDeleteResponding with openness requires a quick and in-tune reaction to your reaction, (if this makes sense) which is by no means easy. If a student is highly disruptive, (loud, blatantly dismissing my words during lecture, etc.) I establish eye contact with her/him and ask her/him to "bring it back." If the student continues to be disruptive I'll say "I really want you to be successful in this class, and to do that you've gotta pay attention. If you've got somethin' on your mind that's makin' you act foul, please step outside, breathe 'n clear your head, 'cause there's no room for negativity in our classroom, let's get it together." Most students are receptive to this mixed "authoritarian"/colloquial response, because it omits tired buzz words like "inappropriate", "disrespectful", and "responsibility", words that unfortunately, have already been beaten into them in not-so-positive incidents (and we all know dissenting associations run deep).
Now claro, personal responsibility, respect, and appropriateness are qualities I actively encourage, but in that tender instance where I could lose the student or weave them back into our class discourse, redescribing their behavior in a less-hyperized,less-pressurized way makes a world of a difference. Can I also reinforce the importance of showing benevolence and humanness for the sake of maintaining the over-all positivistic classroom energy? If the teacher spews their anger and frustration to one student it not only works to dismantle the student's self-concept, which is probably low already, but your behavior as a teacher is remembered and quickly transferred; students who were not being disruptive might just start actin' a fool after you dissed their friend.
Additionally, I am interested in exploring gender dynamics in the classroom, particularly the way young men respond to female teachers who practice with mercy and kindness versus male teachers who do the same. My approach to teaching summer school English has been seemingly simple (yet a challenge to follow-through) be open, be honest, be kind and do not sacrifice academic rigor for learned helplessness. If there is something you don't understand, we'll get it, together. Nevertheless, there have been distinct instances in which my openness and eagerness to help my students has been successfully spun, to my chagrin, into a genderized student mentality of Mrs. De la Selva is patient and a woman, therefore, she can be swiftly swindled into offering more compassion, which many young men in my class view as a profound weakness...
...also, how do we as teachers, as activists, combat homophobia!?! I am preparing a lecture...
I agree that sternly telling a student their behavior is inappropriate means little if you do not explain why it is inappropriate. Teach behaviors. In terms of the authoritarian/colloquial response, I find this gets tired and worn out. If you can respond with an affirmation by all means do so, but adapt it to the context and don't use it as a script.
ReplyDelete"Can I also reinforce the importance of showing benevolence and humanness for the sake of maintaining the over-all positivistic classroom energy?"
Definitely. I think it is essential that the energy is maintained and that non-aggressive responses are modeled to learners. Otherwise, as you say it is transferred.
Swindling is a problem when the youth pride themselves on being hustlers. Make them tow the line. A deadline is a deadline. Most of the time. Unless you're being nice. So much for that. You be the judge. Can you be too nice? Sure. But only if you are bothered by giving people opportunities and chances. If you prefer to give them tests and watch them fail, then by all means reel in the kindness. I firmly believe its about benevolence and in the end you decide what is too much. Only you know what your reserve limit is.
But be fair. Don't give to one and not another. I am perceived to be kind or "soft" by some students and the impulse to take advantage of that is equal across gender lines.
Homophobia? I'd love to see what your lecture consisted of. Perhaps a good topic to introduce historically next year in terms of social activism and civil rights. Cross-curricular collaboration anyone?