Caring about students prevents behavior problems

One of the things I regulary talk about with teachers is how important it is to maintain a good relationship with each student. More specifically, teachers need to make sure every student in class think that the teacher likes him or her. I specifically chose the word thinks in the previous sentence because we as educators are human. It is inevitable there will be students in your classes that rub you the wrong way and that your personalities just don't mesh well. However, it is still the teacher's responsibility to make sure every student believe they are liked. Moreover, author and speaker Todd Whitaker says, "In the great teacher's classroom, every student feels like they are the favorite."

I don't know how many times I have dealt with a student discipline issue, and the students says, "Well, she just doesn't like me." Then the student points to other students in the class who have done the same thing and haven't been punished. Making the student believe they are liked will help eliminate, or at least limit, this type of thinking. Now, the critic might argue that my advice is asking people to be sincere. My response: It is your job to make student's believe they are liked. And moreover, what kind of results will you get with students who believe you do not like them?

By the way, classroom management expert Marvin Marshall has a great website with more information about establishing a caring, positive system for motivating students to exhibit positive choices in the classroom.

Bell Work

In my last post, I discussed the importance of meeting students at the door with a smile. As the saying goes, "The students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." But what about after they get in the classroom? What is the next step to provide a well-managed classroom?

For my teachers, I suggest they assign bell work each day at the beginning of class. Bell work is a short assignment that is posted on the board or somewhere else in the classroom. Students know they will have a bell work assignment each day, and they begin working on it as soon as the bell rings to start the class period or to start the school day. It should not take long to complete--maybe five minutes. Students should be taught from the very beginning to expect bell work everyday. This routine should be taught and reinforced from time to time, but more frequently at the beginning of the school year.

While students are completing bell work, the teacher is able to take attendance, return graded papers, or take care of other "housekeeping chores." I found that by using bell work in my classroom helped establish the right tone from the very beginning. If there is no structure at the beginning of class, students will find ways to fill the time, and these options will not be the preferable ones to the teacher. Once students get off track, they are more likely to drive the teacher nuts! That's right, it will be much harder to refocus them after things are loose, than to start focused from the beginning.

Try to keep your bell work assignments related to the instruction currently the focus of the class. It's best for bell work to tie into the normal classroom studies. There are lots of ideas about the types of assignment that will work for bell work.

Meet them at the door

One of the best strategies for dealing with discipline problems in the classroom to prevent them in the first place. A great way to prevent problems is to invest in building appropriate relationships with your students. Be in the hallway between classes and before school. Sit down in the school cafeteria and eat lunch with your students from time to time. And, of course, meet them at the door. When they arrive for class, greet them with a smile. Talk to a student about something totally unrelated to your class that interests him or her. When a student has a problem, ask this question, "How can I help you?" Make the investment of your time up front and save the need to correct negative behaviors later.

Don't do this, don't do that

Consider the lyrics of the famous rock band, Pink Floyd:

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

"Wrong, Do it again!""If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding.
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?"
"You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds, stand still laddy!"

I find it a bit amusing that as a veteran educator currently working on a doctorate in educational leadership, I still have this song downloaded on my computer from iTunes. After all, it does seem contrary to my value system. I'm sure my students would find it really amusing and probably be unable to hide their disbelief that a school principal could listen to such sacrilege.

But, perhaps there is something to be learned from the famous British rock band. I can't help but find the teachable moment here. The truth is that many individuals have gone through school and had BAD experiences with education. Experiences that have made them feel controlled, looked down upon, and unsuccessful. How else would the song resonate with so many if there was not an audience who shared this experience?

As a principal, my goal is to help students not feel the way the persona feels in the PF song. All of us have the inherent need to feel free, valued, and successful. When educators or parents are constantly saying don't, stop, you can't, and other negative phrases, it wears on a kid's sense of autonomy and freedom. Granted, all kids need limits. Don't think I'm not for saying no or being firm. However, I think instead of saying things in a negative way, we can usually teach and guide without the negativity. I'll discuss some of my ideas on how to do this in my next post.

For now, I'm going to listen to some more Pink Floyd and then maybe some Def Leppard. My students probably think I listen to classical music all the time????