Archive for Teacher’s Lounge
Classroom Discipline Manipulation Scenario #1
Posted by: | CommentsTeacher: Move your seat to over here, Katrina.
Student: But why? I wasn’t even doing anything!
The teacher now has the option of addressing what the student said, which is a manipulation tactic to draw the teacher into their world and continue a useless argument, or to keep the student in the teacher’s frame, and bring the student into the reality of the classroom. Always choose the latter, and continue in this way:
Teacher: You have 10 seconds to be seated where I told you, or you will come to detention after school and/or face the prospect of suspension from my class for defiance.
Student: (continuing) But why? Why won’t you tell me what I was doing?
At this point the detention and or suspension should be given. There is no reason to engage students in these manipulative discussions–you must speak with actions.
It is a little difficult to explain how this can all be done without the overall context of classroom management, but the short of it is, never engage students in manipulative discussions–return them to the reality of the rules you have set and the classroom management plan YOU have devised.
Staying Out of Manipulation Land
Posted by: | CommentsI try to log individual manipulation tactics because they are so numerous and teachers can get stuck on how to handle them. Here’s one: a student is in class, doodling on their paper and not paying attention to the class discussion.
I require my students to be on task at all times. Some teachers may think this is minor, but things tend to compound, and later this same student wants to know what page we’re on or some other special request.
Teacher: Bob, put that pen down and listen to the discussion.
Bob: I’m listening. All I’m doing is drawing.
Here’s where I think things often go wrong–the teacher enters the student’s reality rather than the other way around, and says something like, ‘Well, it’s distracting and I want you to pay attention,’ and an ensuing argument evolves. I recommend, rather, to keep the student in the reality of the class and the teacher.
So:
Teacher: Bob, put that pen down and pay attention to the discussion.
Bob: I am paying attention. All I’m doing is drawing.
Teacher: Okay. Students are required to be on task at all times in my classroom, so put the pen down, or if you insist on defiance I will take it to the next level.
There should be no further discussion. What the next level is will have already been made clear, and Bob can now comply with your direction or face the consequence.
The thing to note in this paradigm of classroom discipline, which may not be obvious at first, is that in the second example Bob was referred back to the teacher’s ‘frame’ or reality, the teacher did not enter his.
Keep students within your frame always, do not enter theirs, and do not confuse sincere, informative questions with these basic manipulation tactics. Whether or not Bob can concentrate fully while doodling (that’s your judgement but in this case i see he wasn’t) is not the issue.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so make a straight line back to your classroom discipline procedures and reality–don’t jump after the student into manipulation land.
In my book Classroom Discipline 101, I show you how to set up your year and career to end classroom disruption and disrespect entirely–you can download it at www.classroomdiscipline101.com.
Until then hope this tip helps out–happy teaching,
Craig Seganti
Classroom Discipline and The Smile/No Smile Debate
Posted by: | CommentsThe old ‘Don’t smile until Christmas’ rule has been ostracized a lot the last twenty or thirty years–you know, the same years during which American Education has gone spiraling downward.
I’m not here to tell you not to smile–just that it helps if you have a very disruptive class.
All of these ideas need a little context. If you smile because you want the class to like you, or are afraid to hurt someone’s feelings, then it is often perceived as weakness consciously or unconsciously by the students and won’t help your classroom management. If you don’t smile it is perceived as stronger because you are not anxious to get the students’ approval. So keep in mind that there is a difference between smiling because you choose to and smiling because you feel compelled to. The latter is weak.
If you have no discipline problems, smile away–why not?
I’m just going to recommend here that if you judge that a class is going to be rowdy, then a serious demeanor is going to be your ally–what is the rush to show what a good guy or gal you are? Many educators act as if not smiling will somehow create serious damage to the learning process. That’s why I say all must be in the context of what we are in schools to do: Teach. Remember that one?
Therefore, any issues which interfere with that should first be filtered through that lens–what helps create an atmosphere where learning best takes place? Your students can learn just fine if you don’t smile, but it may interfere with your control if you do–too soon.
In fact, for teachers with serious classroom disruption going on, the first thing I recommend is entering with a VERY serious demeanor–it sends a message of your being a solid person and not prone to reacting to others, and will calm disruptive students down.
Students suffer when they don’t learn year after year in disruptive classes, not because Ms. Meany didn’t smile until Christmas.
Not smiling won’t single-handedly get you a perfectly-behaved class–you’ll probably want to read my whole book Classroom Discipline 101 to do that (www.classroomdiscipline101.com), but it’s one more technique you can try–if not ’til Christmas, give it a couple of days.
Until then, here’s to enjoying your teaching–
Craig Seganti
Classroom Discipline: Theory vs. What Works
Posted by: | CommentsIt is easy when you are out of a classroom for an extended time to imagine things are different than they are. Oft times the reality of the classroom clashes with popular media portrayals and images College Professors have of what really goes on.
What works?
This is the operative question in any endeavor, a classroom management plan not excepted.
Are you repeating a policy in the classroom which is ineffective? Time to step back and try something else. For instance, if you have a disruptive student, many educators will suggest pulling the student aside and informing them of why their behavior is inappropriate. I’m going to venture a guess that if you have done that, that the behavior has resurfaced shortly after and you end up pulling the student aside again or finally moving on to stronger measures.
The reason is that pulling a student aside assumes that they do not know what behavior is inappropriate, and that your informing them will give them this knowledge and enable them to correct it.
I operate from a different premise. That is, any secondary student already knows what appropriate behavior is in a classroom, and therefore you do not have to remind them–except the first day of class, when you make clear your classroom discipline and management procedures.
After that, it is a matter of enforcing them. A lot of teachers lose a lot of time in between with the counseling step, which usually only delays the inevitable.
In other words, when it comes to effective classroom discipline, intervention steps are unnecessary. I know, you will hear differently. So, as you work out your classroom discipline plan, keep in mind: What works? If it is working, great. If not, there is no reason to continue to try those particular classroom management techniques. It is time to move on to something different until you find something that works.
I have been refining my methods by that philosophy for twenty years in the classroom, and have outlined the action necessary for eliminating classroom behavior problems in any circumstance with my book Classroom Discipline 101. You can download it immediately and be privy to how I accomplish this at Classroom Discipline 101.
Otherwise, keep in mind that you need to use what works in the classroom and stop repeating what doesn’t.
Here’s to enjoying your teaching–
Craig Seganti
How much disruption should a teacher tolerate?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen a teacher enters his or her profession, and embarks on their first assignment in a school, how much disruption and disrespect is tolerable?
A. None B. Zilch C. Zero D. Everything to the left
When I got serious about my classroom management philosophy, I thought deeply about education. Is it a valuable commodity, or something that needs to be forced upon an unsuspecting youth to torture them or force them to hold still while we foist our questionable pearls of suspect wisdom upon them?
It started as a valuable commodity. It still is in many parts of the world.
But in our Sibling Society (see the excellent book by Robert Bly), it has often become viewed as some sort of chore or unseemly vegetable or medicine you have to take because it is ‘good for you’.
Ask a group of students why they should go to college.
‘To get an education.’
‘Why?’
‘So you could be somebody.’
My usual response to this is ‘Well, you are somebody now, so you’re already there–might as well skip college.’
What a horrible religion it is to preach that you are a nobody unless you have an education. How about going to college to get educated?
But there, I digress. The topic is how much disruption a teacher should tolerate in a classroom, and the answer is none, by my reasoning. My classroom discipline philosophy follows from my educational philosophy. There is something valuable going on, the teacher has a great thing to offer, the student is in a classroom to learn, and that only.
I’ve thought of the photos I’ve seen of blacks in the South not a half century ago being attacked by dogs as they marched for, amongst other things, the right to an education. Contrast that with administrators these days outside on school grounds with bullhorns begging kids to get to class on time.
It is no secret that teacher burnout comes from this day in day out dealing with discipline troubles, because of the imbalance of power–students are given more power to disrespect and disrupt than teachers are given tools to battle it.
The only long term way both students and teachers can have a positive experience in the classroom is if there is no disruption or disrespect, and the time can be spent in focused learning.
But how do you arrange that kind of environment? Can it be done if your students do not already have a basic sense of respect? Yes, it can. You must start with the idea that classroom management is not an ongoing battle to manage your class, but an effort to create an environment where the management is so good you don’t know it’s there.
When people read all of my rules and consequences and accountability methods they may think all day is spent on classroom discipline or that the classroom resembles some sort of police state–no, the rules are just there, in the background, ready to be enforced once in awhile, while the actual class atmosphere is one of quiet, respectful attention and preparedness to learn. This cannot be requested of the students, but demanded as the only appropriate way to have education take place.
Here’s to enjoying your teaching experience–
Craig Seganti
