Every
child that enters a classroom wants to impress the teacher in some way. Some
students may try to make you laugh, some may work as hard as they can on a
daily basis, or some may try to get on your last nerve to see what you will do.
Regardless if the act is a positive or negative one, the students perform those
actions to impress you. The hardest part of being a teacher and dealing with
all of these different personalities is maintaining your patience. I don’t have
a ton of teaching experience quite yet, but I know with certainty that
classroom management is my weakness.
“Every weakness contains within itself a strength”
Being
reflective is one of my strongest attributes as a teacher. I talk to myself and
try to find out ways I can be better. Usually these “inner conversations” deal
with the behavior that took place in my classroom. If it was a bad day, I have
a tendency to be highly critical of myself and I’ll say:
·
“I yelled at him too
much.”
·
“She acted out because
I constantly called her out.”
·
“I didn’t give myself
enough time to get the full story from all involved.”
I
knew something needed to change. I get so frustrated that I act out in the heat
of the moment, and make matters worse. Yelling is never the answer. I PROMISE
you…you’re making things worse,
especially when you yell at the student in front of everyone.
First
of all, you’re humiliating the student. No matter how frustrated you are, you
can’t let you’re emotions take over. Be mindful of your surroundings and take a
deep breath before you act on what is taking place in the classroom
Secondly,
when a teacher yells, you are letting the student know that they won. They got to
you. Now, they know how far they can push your buttons until you start screaming
and yelling. In addition, if it is the same student each time that you’re
yelling at, they will continue to act out because your portraying that student
in a negative light and they will just feel like they can’t do anything else,
but get on your nerves. I don’t think any teacher wants to make one of their
students feel like a failure.
Here are a few things I’ve learned in my experience that a teacher
should keep in mind:
· When
disciplining a student, never insist that you are right.
· Don’t be
sarcastic (when disciplining a student).
· Be careful with
your words – never insult or embarrass your students (you would think this was
common sense).
· Be mindful of
your facial expressions when dealing with a behavior problem in the classroom.
· Never make
assumptions – take a breath and get the full story before you take action.
· You shouldn’t
constantly compare your students with other students in the classroom.
o
You can certainly praise a student for following directions, but
you shouldn’t say something like:
“Why can’t you be more like Susan?”
“Yelling
silences your message. Speak quietly so your children (students) can hear your
words instead of just your voice” –L.R. Knost
The
question becomes:
How
do I discipline a student without yelling?
I
find this to be really hard. I’m incredibly fond of (and jealous of) teachers
who consistently maintain a calm demeanor even when things get a bit out of
control in the classroom. Truthfully, when I get frustrated and begin yelling
in my classroom, I know it’s never the students’ fault. It’s because I never
set up a classroom routine for this type of situation. In my classroom, there
were no consequences in place for students who decided to make a bad choice. That’s
why, at times, my first year of teaching got very aggravating. I felt like all
did was yell to get the students to either listen or line up quietly.
I
knew I needed to fix this and I needed to do it fast.
Upon
reflection, I decided to try to do the opposite of what I’ve been doing. I told
myself to praise constantly, and be calm whenever things got a bit out of hand.
So, this year, I had a few students who had a difficult time managing their
impulsivity. So, instead of yelling and pointing them out in class, I would set
up an individual plan.
Setting Up A Plan
As I
mentioned in the beginning of this post, all students want to impress their
teacher whether it be by making a positive choice or a negative one. Below is
an example of something I used in my classroom for a particular student.
Weekly Class/Student Goal Reflection
I had a student in my
class who struggled to focus and needed a lot of positive reinforcement. He got
bored easily and lost his motivation to work within minutes of getting started
on almost every activity. Although this student was very aware of these issues,
he didn’t want the class to become cognizant of his challenges. Therefore,
instead of constantly pointing this student out and making a scene (because
that’s what teachers do when they yell and what I did in the past), I wanted
the student and I to develop weekly goals to help him become more aware of what
he needed to work on. Additionally, this built this student’s accountability of
his actions. He knew that even though he may be bored, the work needed to get
done. It’s completely up to you if you want to reward the students at the end
of each week. It really all depends on the grade. The only problem with rewards
is students become very greedy and will always expect something in return for
completing an assignment.
Below, I provided an
example of a completed goal sheet, and I provided a link to grab a free blank
copy of this sheet. I wasn’t the genius who created it, but you’ll be taken to
the page of the person who did! J
The
moral of my lengthy post today is that yelling will get you nowhere. Actually,
it will get you somewhere, but not to a place you want to be. You need to be
calm and patient. You need figure out a plan that will work for each student if
they are having a hard time making positive choices in your classroom.
Example of a Completed Goal Sheet
Grab a FREE blank copy from the 3rd Grade Thoughts Teachers Pay Teachers page!
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