Chapter 7 – Classroom Management
On page 267 in this chapter, there is a section about Mauro Bautista and his approach to classroom management. When he is dealing with classroom management he asks himself the question, “How would I want an adult at a school setting to treat my own son in this situation?” I think that this is a very simple and accurate way to view our own classroom management. Although I don’t have children of my own, what I am taking away from this is, how would I want to be treated in a similar situation? No, I’m not an elementary student, but I am a person and my students are people too. Teresa, Jacqueline, and Katy talked a lot about respect on Thursday night and it made me think of my students and our classroom. Our first rule in our class is “Be respectful.” (And yes, I let the students come up with our rules at the beginning of the year.) Teachers talk a lot about the students not being respectful to adults and peers, but are the students themselves being respected? In many cases, I’m not sure that they are. I want to model for my students what it means to be respectful of others. It can be difficult sometimes, but that’s okay. We can show the students that it can require a conscious effort to be respectful of others. Our students need to be shown that they are important enough to receive respect from others. I truly believe that this will help them to be more respectful themselves.
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Nicely designed site with really interesting, candid ideas. Thanks
Corey, you are right on the money. I too think that our students are often disrespected. I see teachers roll their eyes and make comments and negative gestures in the presence of students. What message does that send? I’ve heard you interact with your students and I can see how they respond to you. They love you and know that you have their best interest at heart. Keep up the great example! Many of are inspired by you.
I work for a non-profit organization with a 35 year history of teaching teachers and counselors to incorporate social and emotional skill building into their classes and curriculum. When working with children to build norms (rules) at the beginning of the year, we use some tools that help students break apart words like “respectful” by asking – what does respectful look like, sound like and feel like. Our premise is that if you come from an emotionally and physically safe home, or from a specific culture or what have you, the way you show respect or how you are respectful…is very different. This exercise…done of flip chart paper, in murals, using all kinds of processes…helps take the subjectiveness and lack of clarity out of a word like respect. Our norms usually look more like: Be Here; Be Safe; Be Honest; Care for Self and Others; Set Goals and Move on and let go. Unlike “rules” these are norms that guide toward positive behavior, aren’t loaded and are easily discussed. Just food for thought.