The author notes the advice of a friend who is a police officer: "You can look for trouble or you can look away." Similarly, William James famously theorized, "The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook." Take a moment to write your reactions to these two quotes as they relate to the classroom setting. What behaviors that often occur in the classroom should teachers regularly overlook? When should they go with the flow and when should they stop and take a stand? How do they determine which disturbances are trivial and should be ignored and which should be responded to? How can they respond without escalating the situation?
The biggest part of knowing when to overlook behaviors is knowing the students. If there are students who almost always get their work done on time, and done very well, then they have a little more leeway when it comes to what they can do as you know that they do pay attention and they are aware of what needs to be done so if they get a little distracted at times you know they can bring themselves back to what needs to be done. Then there are students who are easily distracted and do not complete work or understand material, and these need to be kept in check. What I tend to do is call on the more distracted students to respond to questions or work on the board, as this forces them to pay attention and shows them that I am fully aware of their disattention and that they aren't going to get out of learning that easily. If they say that they don't know how to do the work or what the answer is, then my response is to use their resources (ie read the slides) or that that's perfect because they can learn while they work through the problem and that the whole class will help them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a good idea to redirect scholars to their notes to answer questions.
DeleteThere are teachers with a great quality that is patience and who know what is happening with their students, especially those who are distracting during the teacher's instructions. The teacher addresses these students in a normal voice and lets them know that they need to respect the instructions for their own benefit. If the student continues to misbehave, the teacher focuses on those who need it in their academic learning.
ReplyDeleteKnowing your scholars is extremely helpful when dealing with behavior. This does take time. With this in mind it is much easier to decide what/who to over look (when dealing with behaviors). It's also an art of redirecting when scholars get off task or distracted. Typically, disturbances that do not distract the class are ignored. If there is a disturbance that distracts the class, then it is dealt with in the best manner possible. The fewer the words (along with tone), the better to deescalate a situation.
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