The jettisoning of firm consequences in favor of a purely restorative approach has caused more dangerous behavior among students.
It’s like nothing I’ve seen in 30+ years of teaching.
Nowadays, a student can fight, bully, torment, throw chairs, and threaten a teacher without being suspended. The result, of course, is that they do it again and again and again.
It’s simple arithmetic.
But this article isn’t about why administrators are pushing this approach. I’ve covered this and related topics in previous articles and videos. This article is about what can do to keep it from happening in your classroom.
The following strategies aren’t a perfect hedge against violent behavior, but they’ll virtually eliminate it on your watch.
Clarity
Your precise and detailed teaching of your nonnegotiable boundaries ahead of time free students to relax in knowing that you will protect them.
Accountability
Following through on the little things as defined by your classroom management plan keep the big things from ever happening.
Rapport
Having trusting rapport and mutual likability with every student causes them to want to please you and heed to your demand for respect and kindness.
Calmness
Your stable easygoing nature, good humor, and calmness bring peace and psychological safety that every student can feel while in your classroom.
Order
Your impeccable room environment, efficient organization, and clear communication allow students to let down their guard and focus on school.
Purpose
Compelling lessons, sharp routines, and a perpetual focus on the next goal/objective keep students on task, purpose-driven, and intrinsically motivated.
Supervision
Vigilant observation, positioning, and pushing the envelop on independence allow you to anticipate, witness, and nip misbehavior before it escalates.
Consistency
Your day after day commitment to your classroom management plan and steady temperament remove the antecedents that cause dangerous behavior.
Success
Guiding students from one success to the next feels great, raises self-worth, and effectively tempers the compulsion to act out in frustration.
Embrace It
These strategies, which are core to the SCM approach, are effective against the rise of violent episodes sweeping the country.
They keep students prone to dangerous behavior and now more emboldened than ever by the lack of administrative accountability from even minor disruptions.
But it takes not just dabbling in SCM, but a complete embrace.
If you’re not fully yet committed, now is the time—before the scourge of dangerous behavior reaches your classroom. The book The Total Classroom Management Makeover was written for this very purpose.
It’s short read and will put you on the fast track to the peaceful classroom your students will love and that you’ve always wanted.
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