A few days ago, my wife removed the sliding screen door that leads out to the backyard because it needed cleaning. When she finished, she popped the door back into place, then left to do other things. Later that day, when I tried to open it, the screen door wouldn’t budge. It was locked in its tracks.
Several months before, when the window installer handed me the user’s manual, I thought, “You’ve got to be kidding me? A user’s manual for a flimsy screen door?”
Now I know why.
After consulting the manual, I discovered that the wheels, located at the top and bottom of the frame, needed proper adjusting. So I grabbed a screwdriver and started experimenting with the amount of pressure each of the four wheels exerted on the tracks.
Though it sounded easy enough, I discovered it was a difficult process. According to the manual, each wheel needed to be properly balanced in order for all four wheels to roll smoothly along the track.
30 minutes later and I had yet to discover the right combination of adjustments that would allow the door to open and close without effort. Just as I was about to become unhinged (pardon the pun), my wife knelt down with a can of WD-40 and sprayed a light coat onto the bottom track.
Like magic, the door glided back and forth. The amount of the wheel pressure was irrelevant in the presence of the grease. I subsequently tried a wide range of wheel pressures and it didn’t make any difference. With the WD-40, everything was easier.
Effective classroom management works like WD-40. With it, everything is easier. The inverse is also true; without effective classroom management, everything about teaching is made more difficult.
The loftiest goal for a teacher is to inspire life-changing academic growth in each of his or her students. But to realize this goal, classroom management must be the top priority. If it isn’t, teaching can become a daily exercise in frustration and a test of one’s patience.
The amount of time your students spend on-task and attentive trumps all else when it comes to learning. So whenever they’re off-task, or whenever you’re interrupted during a lesson, learning is adversely affected.
Over the course of an entire school year, and when compared to a classroom run by a teacher with effective classroom management skills, this can add up to hundreds of hours of lost time. The consequences of which can profoundly affect academic progress.
Therefore, the extent to which you can keep your students attentive, engaged, and on-task reflects how successful a teacher you are. This is why the most effective teachers place classroom management above all else.
Effective teachers are also happy teachers.
A teacher’s job satisfaction and enjoyment is directly related to an ability to manage student behavior. We all hear in the media about how stressful teaching is and how difficult today’s children are to teach.
But for a small number of teachers, those who understand that everything hinges upon classroom management, this just isn’t the case. They’re the happiest of teachers, and they perform their duties with minimal stress.
Poor classroom management is the primary reason—by a long shot—why so many teachers leave the profession. Stressed-out, burned-out, and unhappy teachers are on every campus.
An interesting observation you can try if you’re an elementary teacher involves school assemblies. The next time your school brings classrooms together for an event where the students must remain attentive, observe the behaviors of your colleagues. Notice how relaxed or, more commonly, how tense the teachers are around you.
You’ll typically notice three types:
The Corrector – This is a teacher who sits on the edge of her seat and is constantly correcting and reminding students. She’s a bundle of nerves, often frustrated, and is unsure how they’ll behave in front of others. You can often find her stepping over students trying to get the attention of one or more misbehaving students.–
The Ignorer – Some of his students, too, are poorly behaved during the assembly, but he’s accepted it, believes he can do little about it without becoming a corrector, and so mostly ignores it. He has resigned himself to the fate that, in many ways, he is at the mercy of his students. The assembly is a way to escape the stress of the classroom.
The Expert – She is relaxed and able to enjoy the event because classroom management is her top priority. She knows her students will behave as expected and trusts in her classroom management plan. If, however, a student misbehaves, she will calmly enforce a consequence after the event.–
Like the expert in this example, teachers with effective classroom management skills have a lot less to concern themselves with. When classroom management is your top priority, you’re free to deliver your lessons and inspire your students without the interruptions and stress that shadow the careers of so many.
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