Teacher Tight Rope

A classroom balancing act…like walking the teacher tight rope…this is classroom management.  What a mental picture this paints!  If you have taught you know exactly how this feels. 

Parsonson (2012) sees behavior problem in the classroom to increase the stress level of both the teacher as well as the students.  Behavior issues “disrupt the flow” (Parsonson. 2012) of learning objectives set forth in the classroom.  Parsonson (2012) tells us that the focus of the classroom shifts from the learning objectives to the one or two students causing the disruption and dealing with the problem.  Students come with baggage.  Teachers come with baggage.  Unfortunately, both have to learn to leave it at the door and move forward with the learning objectives of the day or hour. 

Parsonson (2012) shares that there must be effective classroom based behavior management and effective school-wide management and interventions that work together cohesively. If both are not working together for the students there will be students falling through the gaps, trying to see what they can get away with, pushing “buttons” of teachers and administrators to see how far they can go and increase the stress levels of both.  There has to be a “marriage” between the classroom and the building management systems to make it most effective for the students.

Over the years I have been in many schools.  Some schools are managed very effectively and some not so well.  Before I can have an effective behavior management in my classroom there has to be a school-wide system in place and followed.  It is also very helpful if the classroom teachers have a strong behavior management system in place and functioning.  I have said many times in my teaching career that I only see the students once a week. I cannot fix their behavior in an hour.  If they are not behaving in their classroom generally they are not going to behave in my classroom either.  There are those exceptions but they are few and far between!

Check out more about this strategy at:

Parsonson, B. (2012). Evidence-based classroom behavior management strategies. Kairaranga, 13(1), 16-23. http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ976654

 

Pre-K students working on patterns while creating caterpillars out of cardboard egg cartons.  We are a recycling art room!