Vicki Davis has just shared some excellent classroom management advice in her post, Teacher Appreciation: Teachers Must Appreciate Their Own “Nobility.”

I’d strongly recommend you read her entire post. Here are couple of particular quotes I like:

when I lose my temper — EVEN WITH REASON – I literally shave off a piece of my nobility. The nobility of teaching.

You’ll notice that nine times out of ten when parents complain about a teacher it is about what the teacher DOES not the CONTENT knowledge. Why then, do so many education programs spend so much time on content knowledge and lesson plan creation instead of classroom management and psychology.

It isn’t about revenge it is about IMPROVEMENT. Proving your “authority” over a helpless child is not noble. What is noble is being humble enough to help the child improve and not do it again.

Vicki also quotes from a book that is new to me titled What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most by Todd Whitaker. I’ll have to check it out.