When I first entered the classroom as a first-year teacher, I didn’t know what I was doing.
Then, as now, teacher ed programs did a terrible job preparing new teachers. However, either by chance or by providence, I had an advantage.
And this made all the difference.
The advantage was two particular principles (or beliefs) I held at the time, which together I would soon learn were essential for effective classroom management.
The first principle I developed as a youth sports director. During summers from high school through college I worked at a recreation center teaching kids how to play team sports.
The program was part of a larger science camp whose organizers believed a more well-rounded experience was beneficial. Predictably, few of the campers had any interest in sports, or breaking a sweat for that matter.
As I meticulously taught the finer points of swinging a baseball bat or completing a bounce pass, they daydreamed of model rockets and microscopes. Lots of yawns and wandering off to observe the ever-present butterflies.
That is, until I found the secret to capturing and keeping their attention: Pure and simple fun. Fun is universal and will draw in even the most distracted future Goodall or Edison.
So I broke down every sport into miniature (and very silly) games. I told jokes. I imitated cartoon characters and embraced having fun myself. And they loved it. My class became the most popular in the program.
Thus, principle #1 is fun.
The second principle I learned the hard way from a number of mentors growing up: Plain and clear accountability.
- A hockey coach who benched me when I played selfishly.
- A father who withheld allowance if chores were done poorly.
- A professor who threw me out of a mid-term exam for being late.
I also had a high school English teacher who was the GOAT of accountability. His class was riveting and his instruction was next level. But if you didn’t do your reading before class, he let you flounder.
He’d call on you to explain the intricacies of character decisions, and then call on you again to make his larger point. He’d also frequently spring pop quizzes at the end of class.
The lesson wasn’t what these people did specifically. It was that accountability, when applied in a leveraged environment, was a powerful motivator.
I wanted to play more. I wanted money to go to the movies. I wanted to do well on my exams. Want is the key lever for accountability to work.
Fun predictably provides that want-lever for every student.
Principle #2 is accountability.
So when I stepped into the classroom for the first time I knew I wanted my class to be fun. I wanted it to be something my students badly wanted to be part of.
Every day I sought to fulfill that goal.
Combined with a commitment to hold every student accountable for behavior that interrupted learning, I had a surprisingly smooth and peaceful first year of teaching.
Now, it’s important to mention that since founding SCM, both principles and their many supporting strategies and methods of implementation have been thoroughly tested and perfected to make them easy to use and maximally effective.
By following the simple guidelines laid out in our books and guides, they’ll transform any classroom—no matter how chaotic, disrespectful, or unmotivated.
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