AdvanceBlog

I began my first year teaching weeks prior to my 23rd birthday.  One of the veterans on the staff shared with me that because I was so young that the students would try to get over on me.  Because of that, she suggested I should begin the school year very firm and stern.  To insure a no-nonsense approach, she also recommended that I not smile until Thanksgiving.

On the surface, that advice seems both humorous and cantankerous.  Yet, beneath the surface lies the value.  It is much more to a teacher’s advantage to begin the school year firm and fair and eventually develop a rapport that is friendly and loving but mandates excellent effort; than it is to begin the year too friendly and fun only to be left scrambling the rest of the year attempting to regain control.

Effective instruction cannot happen in a mismanaged classroom.  While it is true that we seek to develop learners with a voice and ability to reason, the classroom still remains most successful under the reigns of a caring, driven, benevolent monarch.  Meaning there should be clear lines of leadership, organization, responsibilities, roles and expectations.  This does not advocate tyranny or intimidation, but it does prescribe to a teacher managing the learning environment as a responsible adult leading children.

It has always amused me that some of the most incorrigible students, after their initial rebellion, respond so productively to a well-organized and firm teacher.  Yes, the teacher laughs (sometimes).  However, their leadership, their instruction, and their sincere concern about student learning is not a joke.

Too often in mismanaged classrooms, we find teachers attempting to be buddies with the students.  Being a buddy and having buddy moments are different.  If a student is troubled and seeks compassion – that can be a buddy moment.  Allowing student misbehavior for fear of hurting their feelings is being a buddy and it is a recipe for disaster.  Want to witness a horror movie in the making? Visit a teacher who is too chummy with the children during the first weeks of school, within months you will watch in horror as that teacher fumbles additional task like time management and completing instructional objectives.  Why, because too much energy will be used in hoping to coax their young buddies into listening.

That doesn’t mean that the buddy-teacher cannot turn things around, because they can.  It is a massive undertaking, but can and has been done.  One thing that has to change is their perception of themselves.  Sure, buddies care about each other.  However, buddies often do not know more than their counterparts, as if they are peers or on equal footing.  So if the students think that they are buddies with the teacher, it distorts their understanding of the teacher’s role.  The transformation of the buddy-teacher begins with the teacher’s own understanding that they are the educational professional, the resident expert within their classroom.  This self-perception establishes them as the sage and because of their care and concern, they choose to practice a variety of strategies to facilitate the learning of the children blessed to be in their classroom.  By no means, is the intention snobbish; but in seeing oneself as the leader and as the expert, teachers carry themselves in a more responsible way – a responsible way that belies buddy-buddy relationships with children.

Once the roles within the classroom are defined, expectations established and there is evidence of how those things can work for everyone – when all those things happen, then the teacher can smile … and hopefully it’s before Thanksgiving.

Share your thankfulness with the ones you love this Thanksgiving!