The Eleven Commandments of Good Teaching by Vickie Gill

Author:Vickie Gill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2015-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

7

Thou Shalt Use Some Common Sense

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.

—Benjamin Franklin

I’ve spent a great deal of time telling you about the specific set of rules and consequences I’ve designed for my class. I have to run a pretty tight ship because of the small amount of time I have to work with each of the groups. However, teaching is a people business, and stuff happens. There are times when you have to make a judgment call based on old-fashioned common sense. Every rule has an exception, and you have to develop instincts to be able to read a situation quickly enough to defuse it before it gets out of hand. By working with your students as individually as possible, you can get fairly adept at separating the trustworthy kids from the manipulators.

There are very few times I allow a student to sit and do nothing in my class. The kids just know they have to work all period long because that’s what I expect. But occasionally, a student comes in who is obviously agitated and at the breaking point. Something may have happened at home or in the last class, and this kid is ready to blow. If I see this, I’ll sit next to him or her while the other students move around getting into the groups. I’ll try to get the troubled student to tell me what is wrong, but sometimes, he or she won’t talk or—even worse—the student will scream at me. Right then I have to make a decision. I hope I know enough about this student to guess what’s wrong. Based on my instincts, I’ll take the student into the hall to talk, take the student to the office to talk to someone else, or leave him or her alone to cool down. The one thing I know I won’t do is take the anger personally. This child may scream that he or she hates me, but unless I’ve done something on purpose to make this kid mad, I’m not going to react to the words. This is just misplaced rage, and I’d be a fool to buy into it by losing my temper, too.

Every rule has an exception, and you have to develop instincts to be able to read a situation quickly enough to defuse it before it gets out of hand.

Remember, the teacher is the role model. I’m not going to show my students the same amount of respect they show me; because I’m the adult, I’ll actually show them far more respect, so they can learn by example. Sometimes students tell me I give them too much work or they don’t feel like doing anything. I could tell them to sit down and shut up or I’ll flunk them. I guess that’s one approach. But I usually say, “I give you a lot of work because I care about you. If I didn’t respect you, I’d let you sit there and do nothing.” I’m the one who sets the tone for the class and treats them better than I expect to be treated.

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