Tag Archives: behavior
How to Handle the Tough Conversations
Teaching has given me a skill that I’ve found other people who haven’t been in the classroom don’t have: I can give bad news to good people. I can even give bad news to people I’m not fond of. Of course, I can deliver good news, too, but no one is very impressed with that skill.
Let me give you an example. I had a student newspaper editor who was slacking off his responsibilities. Alex was a basketball player, an actor in the one-act play, and AWOL in the school newspaper staffroom. When other editors tried to talk to him about his section and the edits, he would lose himself in a crowd, tell them that he’d be in the newspaper room later, or claim to have an urgent need to meet with his math teacher. Continue reading
Use Nonverbal Cues to Communicate with Students
My daughter, a high school freshman, came home from school the other day in a bad mood. She’d worked all weekend on her Social Studies presentation about Cuba, but the speech didn’t go well.
Like millions of Americans, my daughter suffers from a public speaking phobia. The number one phobia among Americans is public speaking. Number two is death. As comedian Jerry Seinfeld said, at a funeral, most people would rather be in the coffin than delivering the eulogy. Continue reading
Pop Quizzes: Are They Good Practice?
I’ve been reading Dr. Allen Mendler’s book, Connecting with Students and I came across this passage: “Limit pop quizzes. Pop quizzes contribute unnecessarily to anxiety and rarely lead to increased competence. In fact, the sudden wave of fear that an … Continue reading
Keep Your Chin Up: Positive Imagery for Teachers
My daughter is a competitive figure skater. One of the things her coach asks her to do before she competes is to visualize herself skating her program and landing her jumps. Even during practice, my daughter and her coach use these visualization exercises to convince the mind to rely on muscle memory and training.
These positive mental images replace the negative I can’t messages that athletes sometimes have with those of success. At competitions, meets, matches, or games, so much of an athlete’s performance comes down to her own belief in herself. Continue reading
Grading and Student Engagement
The personal connection between student and teacher is vital to student achievement. When that personal connection exists, the student is more likely to be engaged in the learning and willing to perform the tasks the teacher sets to achieve lesson objectives.
Look around your classroom at the students who have habitual behavior problems. Are they engaged? Do they complete assignments? Do you think they look forward to class? Do you have a personal connection with the student? Continue reading
Every Monday’s Like the First Day of School
Remember back three or more months to the first day of school? I’m sure you’re like most teachers who spent their first day of school explaining the rules and procedures for the class.
If you’re like most teachers, that’s the last you said on the subject. Heck, if you’re like me, that’s the last I said on the subject most years, too.
But, I found that if I wanted my students to take the classroom rules to heart and understand that they’re important, I had to revisit the subject, just like I’d revisit any other classroom learning topic. Continue reading
I Am Thankful for My Challenging Students
Dr. Allen Mendler recently visited Inside the School to record some online professional development seminars. During one of his seminars, Mendler said something that I couldn’t help but write down. Mendler said that he witnessed this kind of conversation between a teacher and a challenging student:
TEACHER: I just want to tell you that I’m really glad you’re in my class. I know that it’s not your favorite place to be, but I’m trying hard to make sure that I’m the right teacher for you. I’ve tried many strategies to teach you, but so far they haven’t been working very well. I’ll keep trying more so that you can learn. I want to thank you for being a part of my class. You are making me a better teacher.
Let’s be honest: you are making me a better teacher isn’t what I would say when talking to a challenging student.
But it should be, because it’s true. Continue reading
Appreciation Sets a Positive Classroom Tone
One summer teacher inservice, our trainer asked us to give people in our small groups an appreciation. An appreciation, she explained, was a specific thank-you to a group member for his contribution to the group. It could be, “Thank you for bringing up the point about special needs students, Stan. We needed to make sure we were addressing their needs,” or, “I really like the way you kept us on track, Laurie.”
I think that those appreciations helped me to get to know my fellow teachers better and they went a long way to creating good will among us throughout the school year. I liked the idea so much that I implemented it with my own students. Continue reading
How to Encourage Challenging Students to Turn in Homework
Alicia was a student of mine. She was a smart girl with a giant chip on her shoulder. The kid could write, though. Once you got past the angsty teen stuff, her poetry was inventive and full of symbolism. Despite her best bluster, we became reluctant allies. She liked that I read her work and I liked that she worked.
We still had trouble when it came to Alicia turning in assignments. She wasn’t a fan of the day-to-day reading and writing expectations I had for my sophomore English students. She had no interest in reading nonfiction and less interest in creating plot diagrams. Continue reading
