This entry could also very easily be titled, “You Better Not Wait.” Considering that one teensy little blog post could merit TWO different titles clearly shows its importance! Right?
While reading more of Doug Lemov’s wisdom (because I am now a devotee of him), I came across a comment that felt like it had been ripped from the very pages of my personal diary (if I had one! hah!). He stated something along the lines of, “Any time I ever felt angry at a student for his/her behavior, I had allowed that bad behavior to continue too long.” To elaborate this, if you let a student “sort of” behave or halfway follow instructions what you communicate is that you only deserve minimum effort. Furthermore, as a teacher you end up just waiting for them to break the rules more, further to a worse point that you believe merits actions. By the time you correct their actions, they think they can now get away with future murder and you are angry with them, despite just now giving out your first warning.
At the beginning of my first year I heard Annette Breux speak. She is a very magnetic lady and I’m sure wonderful to have as a classroom teacher. But she did give some really dud advice on one topic- misbehavior. She recommended ignoring misbehaving students because it was likely they just wanted attention. Now I’m no master teacher, but I strongly advise you to never put up with a single thing you aren’t okay with in your classroom. Students are not picking up on subtle ignoring hints, they are only picking up on “I can do this!” hints- which you are giving out if you are ignoring trouble.
Emotions are great…sometimes. It’s great to feel personal connections to students. It’s great to feel personal happiness in your occupation. It’s miserable to feel any emotions when it comes to classroom management. Discipline should not come out of frustration, anger, spite, etc. As a good teacher you need to be doling out impersonal corrections. Students aren’t mind readers, so don’t hesitate- you will just get mad.
In summation- NEVER wait on managing your class because you don’t want those frustrations to manage you.
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