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.
Just to second the recommendation for What Great Teachers Do Differently. I read it last summer and it really impacted me as a teacher, particularly this piece from a section on respect. Whitaker writes, “If everyone in a school is treated with respect and dignity, you may have nothing special. However, if everyone in a school is not treated with respect and dignity, you will never have anything special. Of that I am sure.”
I plan to reread the book this summer and every summer because I think it will continue to inspire me and help me plan how to rejuvenate my practice.
Teachin’, thank you for your kind words about “What Great Teachers Do Differently” and for sharing that wonderful excerpt from the book.
Larry, there are currently sample chapters of the book available on the Eye On Education Web site here: http://www.eyeoneducation.com/prodinfo.asp?number=669-1.
There is also a study guide to this book, http://www.eyeoneducation.com/prodinfo.asp?number=7024-X, which was written to accompany the text for the participants in seminars, book study groups, or other professional development events.
Thank you again,
Morgan Dubin
Eye On Education
dubin@eyeoneducation.com
Thanks for making us reconsider the nobility of the teaching profession. Teachers’s Nobility is not to be taken for granted. It must be proven through positive actions towards students!