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3.4.3 Being Reasonable
I have already talked
about being mysterious and delaying responses, but I want to underline
them again because they are powerful indicators of your control. Remember
that any time a kid thinks you are going to respond only in real time,
a lack of response indicates to them that their behavior has gone unnoticed
and unchecked.
Perhaps it is even more important for teachers to learn to be selectively blind. There are many unsuccessful teachers who HAVE to see everything. It is almost a matter of moral principle. If I have a rule against talking and you are talking then I have to hold you accountable. If not I create a moral dilemma for myself. I am not being fair to others if I don't notice your transgression. I really urge you to stay away from that. Always ask yourself 'If I see this behavior, am I going to be ahead or behind the game? By seeing this behavior am I helping or hindering the student this student's learning?' There are all sorts of reasons I don't choose to see certain kinds of behavior. I urge you to have in your repertoire this notion of selective blindness. One of the ways you control your class is by choosing what you see. If you don't have this principle in mind, if you have to see everything, instead of feeling like you are in control, every time you see something, you are driven to respond in a knee-jerk way. The idea of having delayed response or no response or selective response or variable response is very important in helping you feel that you have control over your class.
Ultimately you are going to win with your students if they think you are reasonable. That perception of reasonableness goes a long way. If people view each other as reasonable, they'll cut each other a lot of slack. If they think they are unreasonable they won't cut each other any slack. In other words, one of the double whammy's of prejudice is that if I think you are prejudiced against me, I will be actively watching you for behaviors that indicate this perceived prejudice. That doesn't give anybody room for any error. If you have a perception of reasonableness though, everybody cuts everybody some slack and that always works better. We have to find ways to cut each other some slack and that is a very important part of this whole process. Therefore you have to think of one of your objectives in terms of controlling your class as the objective of creating the image of reasonableness. Sometimes it is more important for you to create the image of reasonableness than it is for you to enforce punishment. Reasonableness is a big, powerful part of the game.
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As
a teacher, why should one of your objectives be creating an image
of |
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Mr. Rivers teaches
an eleventh-grade special education class in which all of the |
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