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While You’re Waiting… THINK BACK TO YOUR SCHOOL DAYSand the classrooms in which you felt safe, accepted, and valued. Bring to mind those teachers who inspired you toWANTto put forth your best effort. What about them motivated you to attend and achieve? List at least 3 traits or words that describe them or their actions. Then think back to teachers, bosses &/or supervisors (during any time in your life) who made you feel unappreciated, resentful, fearful, or discouraged. List 3 words or traits that describe them.
What is the biggest threat to your long and rewarding career as a beloved educator of young minds? • Cafeteria food • Increase in class size • Incompatibility with one’s co-teacher • Staying current with the latest state curricula & having to “teach to the test”. • Expanding duties being placed on teachers • Problems with managing student behavior • Radiation emanating from the clicker you’re holding
STAGE 1THE SHINY NEW TEACHER • As 1st day approaches, we’re nervous but optimistic. We have the skills. Everything is prepared. Our approach is thought out: • We're going to be different than those teachers who were so rigid & cold back when we were in school. • We're going to love our students... & they're going to love us in return. • We‘ll create a -wonderful -nurturing -supportive -productive learning environment with our gentle & progressive approach.
Stage 2THE HAPLESS TEACHER • Disorientation & disillusionment progressively increases. • After a short "honeymoon“ period, students' behaviors take turn for the worse. • Attempts to reason with youngsters aren't having any impact. • Some students disrupt lessons while others complain about it. Order & structure are rare & fleeting. We’re frustrated & humiliated. • The problems follow us everywhere… day & night. • Drag self home & fall onto couch...absolutely exhausted. In time, manage to pull selves up to plan for next day, hoping in vain that potentially interesting lessons will recapture pupils' attention. When time comes to rest our weary heads, it's difficult to fall asleep. When we do, it is restless.
Effects of Stage 2 Teachers on Their Students’ Behavior • Many kids, lacking self-discipline, misbehave simply because they can do so. Well-behaved kids are placed in a conundrum. What decision does poor behavior management force upon them? • Their identity is one of a compliant kid. They want to learn, but compliance with a teacher unable to manage the class places them at a lower status than the non-respected instructor. • Being in that lowly position sets them up for victimization by bullies (just as the teacher experiences). Many potential “model students” misbehave in order to gain favor with those in power.
Burn Out • Emotionally, we can't give anymore. We’re worn out & feeling incompetent. We doubt whether we made the correct career choice. We think maybe we don't have what it takes to be a teacher. • At this point, several choices: a) Realize not 1st teacher to feel this way. Others have been in our shoes, yet negotiated the path up to stage 4. Engage in self-study, mapping the way to higher ground. b) Muddle on as a stage 2 ineffective teacher (Not recommended). c) Take friends’ & families’ advice: Go into sales. (Not rec’d). d) Earn an advanced degree in another educational field. e) Give up on ideals & values, listening to toxic advice spewed out in teachers’ lounge. • NO!!Don’t listen!Don’t devolve!
On the Cusp: The mindset that emerges when one is starting to move from Stage 2 (Hapless)to Stage 3 (Hurtful)
STAGE 3THE HURTFULTEACHER • The junk yard dogs of our profession… • Mean • Nasty • Ornery, & at times, vicious in their approach to kids • Avoid or quickly exit this stage. Why? It works!(Or does it?) • Scares &/or hurts kids. • Growing number of administrators, parents, & pupils (along with defiant kids) won’t accept this treatment. • Many former practices now banned from schools • Consequences available to us aren’t ½ as bad as what many disruptive kids experience at home or neighborhood. • Unbecoming of someone with esteemed title of “Teacher”. • Sabotages dream of someday looking back at career with pride.
Coercion in the classroomStage 3 mentality:Punish students who irritate us. When penalties fail to change the behavior in persistently disruptive kids, search for more of what already isn’t working.
When in-class penalties fail, pressure administration to use more severe penalties (that also don’t work with persistently defiant & disruptive kids)…detention,in-school suspension,Out-of-school suspension,Expulsion…DEPORTATION?
We have met the enemy… And it is us. Stage 3 teachers gain superficial compliance from our “good kids” with intact emotional restraints, but... ? • Positive intervention would have obtained same compliance (& placed smiles on their faces). • Stage 3 “toxic teaching” destroys the joy of learning & the interpersonal bonds between teacher & pupil. Anxiety impairs performance. Self image is negatively impacted. • Arguments & resistance are instigated in persistently disruptive & defiant kids who lack behavioral restraints. In recent times there’s been an increase in the numbers of: • Students who misbehave • Parents who fail to support the efforts of the school • Administrators who don’t support our efforts However… • Are we going to curse thedarknessor turn on a light?
Which Way Now ? • Two choices at this juncture on the teaching trail: • 1)Continue on the low road that passes through education’s toxic waste dump: • Stay mean & justify actions by thinking of many students as "losers“, “trouble makers”, “ner-do-wells”,so on & so forth, ad infinitum…, ad nauseum… • Claim that coercion is "the only thing they understand.“ • Lure new/struggling teachers into the “Black hole” of teaching in order to prevent an increase in the number of positive & effective teachers…those skilled & supportive folks who make our incompetence more glaringly evident to us (and others).
2)Take the High Road • Drop the misguided belief that"If a hammer doesn't work, get a bigger hammer.” "Oh yeah!? A zero doesn't bother you? Then you‘ve got a ‘double zero’!“(3 nights detention following a 2 night detention, more points removed, “Principal’s powerfully punitive parlance”, followed by “Double secret superintendent’s scolding”, etc.) • Stop using more of what already isn't working & saddle up with the advice given new recruits in the U.S. Cavalry: • "If your horse dies… Dismount!“ • Quit belly-aching & seek solutions... But how do we put stage 3 in our professional rear-view mirror?
Hello Stage 4! • Find mentors & query skilled colleagues • Drop by their classrooms during planning periods to identify effective behavior management strategies • Read classroom management books (with a support group, if possible) • Visit web sites like BehaviorAdvisor.com (& other fine sites) • Attend: • conferences • district professional development training • college courses that focus on positive behavior management interventions.
Why Move Up? • Success with defiant & disruptive (and compliant) kids is enhanced. • Helpful teachers are at (or approaching) the profession’s pinnacle. What are the traits of those teachers whom you remember fondly? -Masterful, confident, decisive, firm, fair, friendly, self-assured -Created & maintained a positive, productive, & orchestrated learning environment -Exuded self-discipline while building the same in others • The Helpful Teacher utilizes positive interventions that make use of assertive (not hostile) & supportive voice, body language, & phrasing. This approach promotes cooperation & teaches self control. • YES! ...Self control, like academics, is taught. (Not to be confused with “Teaching ‘em a lesson”, which doesn’t).
THE VIEW FROM THE TOP • You're there! • (You always knew that you could do it.) • Now you're familiar with "the 80/15/5 rule“? • Any one technique works great with 80% of kids, somewhat well with 15% of pupils, & not at all with 5% of students. • We realize that we need many behavior management tools, not just a hammer. • As Mark Twain said: • "To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.“
Now we're leading rather than pushing. • We now realize that the only way to break students' negative behavior patterns is to break our own 1st. • We've come to know the perks of being a good behavior manager: • Sleeping better at night & waking refreshed. Our first words upon arising are"Carpe diem!“ • It feels great when kids are listening & achieving! • We're teaching with confidence & charisma. • Our sparkling personality surfaces, & Wehave enough energy left over at the end of the day to say"Carpe noctum!"
STAGE 5? • Why not move now to stage 5 (the wise mentor)? • Now that you're so darned good, it's time to help someone who is having problems jumping the stage 4 hurdle. • Befriend that struggling teacher (Remember how you wished for a mentor in your first couple of years on the job?) • Or tell that crotchety, cranky colleague to stop complaining and do something positive and productive about it. • Shine a light on the path to stage 4 (and 5). • If not you . . . • Who? • But remember: Use your super powers only for good!
THE 10 DEMANDMENTS • Thou shalt always do what is in the STUDENT’Sbest interests. • Thou shalt seek SOLUTIONS, not blame & fault. • Thou shalt model APPROPRIATEbehavior (patient, dignified, & respectful). • Thou shalt use the LEASTintrusive intervention possible (especially forpunishment). • Thou shalt form positive & productive RELATIONSHIPS with thy kids. • Thou shalt instillHOPE for progress and success. (Otherwise, kids will see no reason to attend, put forth effort, & behave well.) • Thou shalt catch kids beingGOOD & say ENCOURAGING things. (A LOT! 5-8 to 1)(PBIS.org, Canter, Jones) • Thou shalt NEVERtake a kid’sDIGNITY from him/her. (Thou shalt not treat a student in a manner that would cause thou to file a union grievance if it were done to thou). • Thou mayest hate a kid’s BEHAVIOR, but thou shalt keep FAITHin his/her capacity to change for the better(with your supportive guidance & “instructional discipline”). (“Do not mistake the child for his symptom.”Erik Erikson) • Thou shalt NEVER give UP on a kid (and by extension, ourselves). (Resilient Kids)
Your Turn • What questions or comments would you like to voice? • Which points caught your attention? • In what ways do you see yourself changing your interaction/intervention patterns? • With which points do you take issue or disagree? (and why?)
