Owning Behavior
From the desk of Keela…
I have a big job to continue to do to the next 150 some days of school. The best gift I can give my students is teaching them how to think critically. And not only in areas like math, science, and language arts, but also when it comes to discipline. Classroom management is as much of an art as the lesson plans we create each day. It is the foundation of the learning that takes place in our classroom.
For the past 10 years, on the first day of school, I have introduced my students to what I think is my most important class rule: “You can do anything in my classroom as long as it is not a problem.” I absolutely cannot take credit for that brilliant statement. I learned it the summer before my first year teaching. My principal at the time strongly encouraged that I attend a Love and Logic workshop. If you have never heard of Love and Logic it’s a classroom management system worth researching. I have found it to be the most successful way to teach children to think for themselves when it comes to their behavior.
Every year my class generates a list of what they think are problems for our classroom. Having children generate their own list of problems puts them in the driver’s seat and creates ownership. Think about how much more effective this feels than telling your students YOUR class rules. You are inviting them into your class, but asking them how they think it should run.
Love and Logic also taught me there are 3 types of teachers (and parents): the drill sergeant, the helicopter and the consultant. Children operate under drill sergeants due to fear, are constantly being rescued by ‘helicopter’ teachers (or parents) and are taught to think for themselves under consultants.
My role as a teacher is to be a child’s consultant. As a child’s consultant it is my job to give them advice, not tell them how to solve their problems. I teach my students my next rule for when problems arise in class. “If you cause a problem, I will ask you to solve it.”
For an example of what this may sound like, step into my kindergarten class for a moment:
Olivia and Evan are building with blocks. Olivia takes a block off of a tower that Evan is building and will not give it back. I hear Evan getting upset and I walk over.
Me: “Olivia and Evan, what’s going on?”
Evan: “Olivia took the block I was using.”
Me: “We did agree something like that would be a problem. Olivia, why did you do that?
Olivia: “I really needed it for the tower I was building.”
Me: “What else could you have done, rather than taking that from Evan?”
Olivia: “Waited until he was done and then used it.”
Me: “That’s a good idea. Anything else?”
Olivia: “I could have asked him if he would let me use it.”
Me: “Another good idea! So, what do you think you need to do with that block?”
Olivia: “Give it back to Evan.”
Me: “I agree! Thank you, Olivia. Let’s keep this in mind next time we want something someone else is using.”
The opposite would be me telling Olivia to give the block back to Evan and ask her to not do that again, which is a missed opportunity for her to do the thinking. It’s also something that may continue to happen over and over if I didn’t take the time to have my children think through problems like that themselves. When you give children the opportunity to think for themselves their answers are often surprising. I find myself year to year amazed that children can tell me why something is a problem better than I can.
Playing the role of a consultant can be more work because you have to spend more time talking with students, asking them questions and giving them advice. But in the end, it takes a lot off of you as the teacher. You do not have to step in and do all the thinking and fixing. You’re just doing the asking and advising.
Of course, like anything, I’ve taken the parts of Love and Logic I like best and have used them the way I find fit with my personality, and the personalities that have moved through my classroom. I’ve only scratched the surface with the strategies I learned, and what I have written about here are the elements I find myself using day to day in my classroom. Teaching children how to think for themselves is the highlight of my teaching career. It’s powerful and well worth the extra energy it may require.
Keela Gallagher is a guest blogger with ERG. She is currently teaching at The Downtown School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where she shares her lifelong love of teaching and learning with kindergarteners.