Here at SCM, we embrace simple things that have a big impact.
Maintaining a calm disposition is one of those things. If you do nothing else, if you make no other changes to your teaching practice, you’ll notice some surprising effects.
You’ll experience what I like to call “What the heck?” moments. What follows are five things that happen when you become consistently calm.
1. Excitability diminishes.
Excitability is one of the biggest causes of misbehavior. It’s also one of the easiest to control because students take their cue from you.
As long as you allow your classroom management plan to take care of misbehavior for you, your calmness will pervade your classroom and soothe every restless spirit.
2. Focus improves.
Pacing, shallow breathing, nervousness, talking fast and too much . . . these common teacher behaviors cause students to swivel their heads, bounce in their seats, and fidget with distraction.
Simply slowing down, talking less, and breathing with your diaphragm will better draw your students’ eyes and energy toward you and your instruction.
3. Happiness increases.
When you’re calmer, you’re happier. You smile more. You see circumstances, motivations, and obstacles in a more positive light.
It shows in your face and your smooth, carefree movements. And it’s all powerfully and predictably contagious. Even the hardest nut begins to smile in spite of himself.
4. Confidence grows.
When you slow down, time slows down with you. You’ll have more space to observe, model, and prepare your students for success.
They in turn will perform better, which increases their confidence and reliance on themselves (rather than you) to progress independently.
5. Stress evaporates.
Spend a single school day in a calm state of mind and your stress level will hover at levels far below your baseline. You’ll also enjoy shocking amounts of energy you didn’t know were possible.
Your new normal will allow you to put your work day in the blur of your rear view mirror. You’ll be fresher to exercise, attend your child’s game, or enjoy a long walk at the park.
Make it Automatic
So how do you become calmer?
Like anything else, you work at it. It takes discipline, of course. It takes commitment. It takes grasping the undeniability that keeping your cool makes you a better and happier teacher.
I also recommend the decide-first method, which was a game-changer for me and thousands of other teachers.
Finally, adopting the SCM approach in full will make transitioning to a calm, confident teacher almost automatic. In fact, it’s a natural outcome that will develop right along with your knowledge of SCM.
PS – Check out this week’s YouTube videos:
1. Why Nice Teachers Struggle With Behavior
2. Why So Many Teachers Are Burning Out
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Point 1 in the first video, critizing judgment based on intent in “nice” teachers – I think it’s problematic to ignore the intent and be purely a “referee”. I would have gone nowhere if everyone had always pulled through with everything based on rules. (I now believe that this failure to comply is based on very obvious inattentive-type-ADHD traits, but I am too old to get that certified.) Plus, it is extremely hurtful if you didn’t mean it but you get the full punishment nevertheless. Even if it’s just a letter home, triggering discussions at home where no one believes you and you’re just once more left alone.
Traits 2-6 of “nice” teachers aren’t nice to me, they are phoney, I hated them as a kid. The first one is very different.
Dear Michael, I teach in a town in MA, and we still have 2.5 weeks left due to snow days. Your words of wisdom are timely and true. Schools that are still in session have many, many struggling kids. This week, I watched a BCBA use the block/redirect strategy for 30 minutes with a child who was hysterical. The BCBA got the child from a crowded cafeteria to sitting crisscross in a quiet hallway because the BCBA was focused, and used no words. The child was eventually able to speak without getting hysterical. Calm teachers move little mountains every day. I applaud my teacher friends everywhere for what they do. Thank you for your weekly advice, Michael. I’ve been reading for years!
Thanks, Michael, for your words of wisdom. I read them every Sunday night after I have done my planning, and they set me up for the week ahead. (Here in the UK we still have five weeks left of school.)
This year I will have been teaching for 30 years! But it’s never too late to remind myself of the basics of how to keep my classes calm. Your guidance is invaluable and I use it alot. Especially with so many new strategies that we are expected to do as teachers and to include in our lessons. Many of which don’t always contribute to the student’s learning. Its lovely to read each week tips on how to just make the students enjoy their learning more through effective teaching and behaviour strategies. It certainly has helped me to stay teaching for so long.
Very simple but extremely efficient. It really works. Thank you !