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Behind the Whiteboard |
Can't Classroom Rules be Black & White?
on June 2, 2009
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The teachers I have known that are the most "black and white" always seem to have the most problems which they respond to by being more "black and white."...
The teachers I have known that are the most "black and white" always seem to have the most problems which they respond to by being more "black and white." The teachers I know who are the "grayest" don't have any classroom management problems. "Black and White" empowers the teacher, properly enforcing "grey" rules empowers the students. Fair does not always mean equal. Rules cannot replace relationships, relationships is what gets kids to follow the rules...
on Jun 2, 2009
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One of my administrators recently told me, "Everything is not black and white Kristen — there is a lot of gray." We were discussing the recent controversial drug and theft issues occurring in my classroom.
My response: "Well, I do see things quite a bit in black and white. After all, as a teacher, having consistent and fair consequences for actions significantly minimizes my classroom management issues. If a student has a cell phone out, I take it. If the student tells me it's his/her mom on the phone with an emergency, I still take it and allow the student to use the phone in my classroom instead of their cell phone."
The issue with allowing so much "gray" matter slide in the classroom is that it convoludes things. The bottom line is that a student stole from my cabinet. Another adult witnessed this and the student didn't receive any consequence because "he had already been out of class so much," and the administrators couldn't be sure that the other adult and I were really sure he was the one who stole. Since this situation occurred, several other students have gone behind my desk to take whatever they feel like. Inaction and lack of consequences breed inappropriate behavior and a vicious cycle of inappropriate behavior that will become worse until students are running the school.
There are schools in this world where students are held accountable for their actions, and "gray" situations are not tolerated. These schools are improving and focusing on students achieving at higher levels, and generally heading down positive paths. They abide by a structured discipline system, and things as simple as gum chewing or inappropriate language can cause a student to get a strike. Three strikes and the students are out. Academic Performance Index scores at these schools are improving, and they are closing the achievement gap.
It seems so simple to me: "gray" rules are just a smokescreen for students and/or parents to avoid being held accountable. Will it ever change?
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Comments
on Jun 2, 2009
The teachers I have known that are the most "black and white" always seem to have the most problems which they respond to by being more "black and white." The teachers I know who are the "grayest" don't have any classroom management problems. "Black and White" empowers the teacher, properly enforcing "grey" rules empowers the students. Fair does not always mean equal. Rules cannot replace relationships, relationships is what gets kids to follow the rules...
on Jun 10, 2009
Students need structure to succeed. Any parenting magazine will tell you that your child does not want to be the one in charge and when you live in gray areas that is exactly what happens; these students feel like they are in charge. I have children in both public and private schools. The one in the public high school with the gray areas has reports come home that say "she decides when she will come to school and when assigned detention she decides when she will come to that." (her grades are barely passing.)Gray areas cause chaos. My children in private school do not sacrifice relationship at all; they have both structure and relationship with their teachers. Children need, and appreciate, boundaries and (Their grades are on the high honor roll.)
on Jul 12, 2009
As a teacher in a high school where rules are not enforced, I strive to provide a sense of structure in my classroom. My students, who are seniors, know what is expected of them, and therefore, they know how to behave. I think that the problem with "gray" rules is that students don't know what rules to follow.
I think your example of the cell phone is probably one of the biggest problems in a high school classroom today. Every student is always talking to or texting their mom or dad. As I take away the student's phone, per our school policy, I explain that there are other options than breaking the school policy. I make the kids tell me some other way they could have handled the situation.
I believe that students enjoy coming to my class because they know what to expect. As I sit in parent conferences and listen to other teachers talk about how the kids behave in their class, I am amazed that some of my most well behaved kids act that way. When I talk to the student about why they behave that way in other teachers class and not mine, they usually say, "Because I never know what will set that teacher off. One day something is fine, and the next she freaks out about it." To me that is the biggest problem about "gray" rules, the kids don't know what to expect.
on Aug 25, 2009
Perhaps we're defining the shades of color differently, but life is gray and things are often convoluded. To pretend life is black and white is a disservice to students. You can hold a student accountable for their actions, have structure, AND negotiate the gray at the same time - perhaps teaching them how to do it in their lives with a productive end result. Even with the best "black and white rule" you will have interpretation and exceptions because life is gray.
on Oct 10, 2011
Or maybe teachers just don't know how to use critical thinking skills, analysis, and good judgement so cover that up by blameing students and parents for not wanting to be accountable.
