Marvin Marshall, who writes on positive classroom management strategies and who I have quoted often here, just wrote something in his monthly newsletter that struck me.

I’ve known that when there’s a behavior issue in class asking the student, “Why?” never is helpful. Now Marvin has a better suggestion. Instead, ask the student, “”What do you think we should do now?”

Makes sense to me.

Readers might also be interested in a series of posts I wrote earlier this year about classroom management:

When A “Good” Class Goes “Bad” (And Back To “Good” Again!) — April, 2008

Maintaining A “Good” Class — April, 2008

More About Maintaining a “Good” Class — May, 2008

“Why Do You Let Others Control You?” — September, 2008