Whenever I discuss my teaching experiences with friends or family they are always taken aback by how strict I am with my students. Often they find my tales of strict discipline and at times borderline demoralizing behavior management as a cruel and unproductive technique that I should be disappointed in. The thing is many of these people have very little experience with how things actually function in the classroom and are quick to be judgmental, but also wouldn't want half of the kids in my classes interacting with their kids. First, let me be clear, my students are not bad kids. In fact I'm unsure if there are any actual bad kids. Many of my students come from difficult situations and therefore have rough outlooks on how the world should function. If all your life the people around you kept you in check through emotional and physical violence, then the expectation is going to be that those techniques are what constitutes respect. Enter the middle school teacher who has to manage 36 to 40 students in one classroom for around 3 hours a day. These students expect their teacher to be stern, strict and worst of all a bit scary.
The Charter Exception
You will hear charter schools argue that these management styles are not necessary. While it is true that in a Charter style school where expectations and school culture are congruent among all teachers it is possible to manage without being cruel, such a system cannot and will not ever be implemented in a public education setting. Furthermore, Charters have the luxury of kicking out truly insubordinate students, while in public schools those students often bounce around between class and suspension. This leaves many public school teachers feeling alone and unsupported in the classroom. Especially in high needs areas where parent involvement can be a question mark for some students. At a certain point you either crumble and allow chaos reign in your classroom, hoping nothing occurs to get you fired or you decide to make the locus of control centered around you.
The worst kind of tough love
Once you've accepted that a small population of your students ( I would say around 10 of your students) need highly structured and strict management systems to be successful, you realize you need to impose such draconian measures on the entire class in order to make them work. What I mean is if I'm going to make "no getting up" a classroom rule and a student who you know is often absent minded decides to get up, then it's your prerogative to be incredibly strict and punish that student, regardless of whether they intended to be disruptive. This includes public embarrassment and harsh penalties for a student you know wasn't attempting to be disruptive in any manner. The reason for this is twofold. First, you don't actually know the intention of the student and perhaps the student is testing to see how breaking the rule will be taken (a rarity, but definitely possible) Second, you need to show other students who would also like to attempt to break the rules that there is no discrimination in how punishments are handed out. If a kid gets up, be it a straight A student or a student who is consistently disrespectful, they will receive the same punishment. Such consistency serves as a deterrent for students who aim to be disruptive. They figure if this teacher is going to be a hard ass, I'd rather take my nonsense to another classroom. And there's always another teacher who gets the brunt of the repressive system you implement in your room.
Why first years in high need schools suffer
Your first year of teaching is demarcated by inconsistency, so it's no surprise many first years struggle with management. Even I struggled tremendously my first year (and I'm starting my second year now so the struggle might still be real). Veteran teachers, who already have rules and procedures in place and can instinctively make a student cry at the drop of the hat if need be, will go in hard and fast in the first couple of months. First years on the other hand tend to rely on taught management systems such as consequence hierarchies and reward systems, both of which aren't pragmatic when you have someone next door playing a game of "random public embarrassment." To the veteran teacher's defense, they will proceed to engage in this draconian behavior for two months, thus establishing themselves as the locus of control in the classroom. After which they will then be able to be more lax even pleasant if they choose to be. Unfortunately the process of always frown till Christmas takes a toll on the psyche of the teacher, veteran or new. It causes many teachers to develop cynical attitudes as forms of psychological dissonance in order to justify their actions to themselves. As you become more established you can do less. As you become stronger in the school, students instinctively know not to test. But the scars you have to inflict and gain on the road to that level of management are deeper than one might think.
I can't condemn what I also preach
And even though I am talking about how toxic this process can be, the very same day I might assert my locus of control in the classroom. I have no doubt that as I write this, while my students are taking their writing baselines, one student will decide to do something I find unacceptable. I will decide in that split second if I want to embarrass him or her on the spot to make them a sacrificial lamb for the other students to see. Right now I see a student with his head down in clear defeat due to the fact that he most likely can't even read the writing baseline passage. But he's sleeping in my class and that's straight up unacceptable. He is acting this way because he is frustrated. I'm frustrated that he's gotten to this point. But what do I do? Do I preserve this student's insecurity and emotional tenor in ELA and by doing so risk the respect and obedience of my students. Or do I callously use his insecurity to make him an example of what might happen to any student who decides not to put effort in my class. I've chosen to take a middle road. A general announcement to the class about keeping your head up. But if another kid decides to put their head down, it would be because I let the first student slide. These are the decisions we make in the classroom.
Strict does not need to be disrespectful
While I am espousing a strict and dictatorial classroom, I am not advocating any form of disparagement or disrespect of your students. I have never called one of my students stupid or incapable due to their academic performance. Nor have I ever mentioned particulars of their academic performance to the class. That is a sacred trust between you and your student and once you've crossed that line you've completely lost any faith a student can have in you as a teacher. You do not need to demean your students in order to get them to listen. Instead you can be honest with them. For example, if a student is acting in a way that's going to earn them a failing mark and detention, then maintain that as your line of defense. I don't need to insult you, I'm just going to remind you about how problematic your situation can become. Some teachers resort to insults and demeaning statements. I think that's unnecessary, but then again I can't knock a teacher who does what they need to do to teach their kids.
Discipline with love
It's not like students in high needs schools are worse than students from affluent areas. The difference is students from high needs schools have been taught different forms of authority and therefore expect you to mimic many of the authority techniques used by their parents and the adults around them. Detention doesn't sound bad to a kid who's been jumped before. Calling home does not matter if your parents barely have control over you. We need to work to bolster families and remove violence from neighborhoods so that teachers do not have to act like dictators in the classroom. There will always be one or two students who have behavior issues, but when stern warnings and calls home aren't enough to deter bad behavior, then we need to start fixing what's making our kids grow up too quickly.
The Charter Exception
You will hear charter schools argue that these management styles are not necessary. While it is true that in a Charter style school where expectations and school culture are congruent among all teachers it is possible to manage without being cruel, such a system cannot and will not ever be implemented in a public education setting. Furthermore, Charters have the luxury of kicking out truly insubordinate students, while in public schools those students often bounce around between class and suspension. This leaves many public school teachers feeling alone and unsupported in the classroom. Especially in high needs areas where parent involvement can be a question mark for some students. At a certain point you either crumble and allow chaos reign in your classroom, hoping nothing occurs to get you fired or you decide to make the locus of control centered around you.
The worst kind of tough love
Once you've accepted that a small population of your students ( I would say around 10 of your students) need highly structured and strict management systems to be successful, you realize you need to impose such draconian measures on the entire class in order to make them work. What I mean is if I'm going to make "no getting up" a classroom rule and a student who you know is often absent minded decides to get up, then it's your prerogative to be incredibly strict and punish that student, regardless of whether they intended to be disruptive. This includes public embarrassment and harsh penalties for a student you know wasn't attempting to be disruptive in any manner. The reason for this is twofold. First, you don't actually know the intention of the student and perhaps the student is testing to see how breaking the rule will be taken (a rarity, but definitely possible) Second, you need to show other students who would also like to attempt to break the rules that there is no discrimination in how punishments are handed out. If a kid gets up, be it a straight A student or a student who is consistently disrespectful, they will receive the same punishment. Such consistency serves as a deterrent for students who aim to be disruptive. They figure if this teacher is going to be a hard ass, I'd rather take my nonsense to another classroom. And there's always another teacher who gets the brunt of the repressive system you implement in your room.
Why first years in high need schools suffer
Your first year of teaching is demarcated by inconsistency, so it's no surprise many first years struggle with management. Even I struggled tremendously my first year (and I'm starting my second year now so the struggle might still be real). Veteran teachers, who already have rules and procedures in place and can instinctively make a student cry at the drop of the hat if need be, will go in hard and fast in the first couple of months. First years on the other hand tend to rely on taught management systems such as consequence hierarchies and reward systems, both of which aren't pragmatic when you have someone next door playing a game of "random public embarrassment." To the veteran teacher's defense, they will proceed to engage in this draconian behavior for two months, thus establishing themselves as the locus of control in the classroom. After which they will then be able to be more lax even pleasant if they choose to be. Unfortunately the process of always frown till Christmas takes a toll on the psyche of the teacher, veteran or new. It causes many teachers to develop cynical attitudes as forms of psychological dissonance in order to justify their actions to themselves. As you become more established you can do less. As you become stronger in the school, students instinctively know not to test. But the scars you have to inflict and gain on the road to that level of management are deeper than one might think.
I can't condemn what I also preach
And even though I am talking about how toxic this process can be, the very same day I might assert my locus of control in the classroom. I have no doubt that as I write this, while my students are taking their writing baselines, one student will decide to do something I find unacceptable. I will decide in that split second if I want to embarrass him or her on the spot to make them a sacrificial lamb for the other students to see. Right now I see a student with his head down in clear defeat due to the fact that he most likely can't even read the writing baseline passage. But he's sleeping in my class and that's straight up unacceptable. He is acting this way because he is frustrated. I'm frustrated that he's gotten to this point. But what do I do? Do I preserve this student's insecurity and emotional tenor in ELA and by doing so risk the respect and obedience of my students. Or do I callously use his insecurity to make him an example of what might happen to any student who decides not to put effort in my class. I've chosen to take a middle road. A general announcement to the class about keeping your head up. But if another kid decides to put their head down, it would be because I let the first student slide. These are the decisions we make in the classroom.
Strict does not need to be disrespectful
While I am espousing a strict and dictatorial classroom, I am not advocating any form of disparagement or disrespect of your students. I have never called one of my students stupid or incapable due to their academic performance. Nor have I ever mentioned particulars of their academic performance to the class. That is a sacred trust between you and your student and once you've crossed that line you've completely lost any faith a student can have in you as a teacher. You do not need to demean your students in order to get them to listen. Instead you can be honest with them. For example, if a student is acting in a way that's going to earn them a failing mark and detention, then maintain that as your line of defense. I don't need to insult you, I'm just going to remind you about how problematic your situation can become. Some teachers resort to insults and demeaning statements. I think that's unnecessary, but then again I can't knock a teacher who does what they need to do to teach their kids.
Discipline with love
It's not like students in high needs schools are worse than students from affluent areas. The difference is students from high needs schools have been taught different forms of authority and therefore expect you to mimic many of the authority techniques used by their parents and the adults around them. Detention doesn't sound bad to a kid who's been jumped before. Calling home does not matter if your parents barely have control over you. We need to work to bolster families and remove violence from neighborhoods so that teachers do not have to act like dictators in the classroom. There will always be one or two students who have behavior issues, but when stern warnings and calls home aren't enough to deter bad behavior, then we need to start fixing what's making our kids grow up too quickly.
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