When your class gives a subpar performance, the tendency is to ease up.
To take your foot off the gas.
To think, “Maybe I’m asking too much.”
This is a normal response after a so-so routine, an unfocused lesson, or off-topic group work.
But it would be a mistake to follow your instincts.
It would be a mistake to ignore poor performance or assume your students are rebelling against too high of expectations.
Because loosening of standards—even a tad—always, immediately, and effectively lowers the bar of what is considered “good” in your classroom.
It tells students that you don’t really mean what you say and that sloppiness and carelessness are a-okay. It also sends the message that they’re incapable of any better.
So, how best should you respond?
Well, before we get there, it’s important to point out that, when your students test you with substandard performance, how you respond will determine whether it gets corrected right away or things get worse.
It’s a dangerous time because if you do ease up, if you do begin accepting less—which many teachers feel immense pressure to do—then things will most definitely get worse.
Misbehavior will rise, attentiveness will wane, and your lessons and routines will never be sharp and urgent again.
Now, it’s also important to mention that when your class does have a bad moment, it’s nothing to worry about or get stressed over. It happens to the best of teachers and isn’t in any way a sign that you’re asking too much.
It is, however, an opportunity to make things even better.
It’s an opportunity to raise that bar a notch higher, send the message that you really do mean what you say, and ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
So, the best response is to first wait until the less-than-acceptable activity plays itself out. Let your students experience what poor performance feels like. Let them live in it.
After three or four minutes, or until your teacherly sense tells you it’s time, ask for their attention. Pause a few seconds to give them a chance to figure out all on their own that they didn’t perform as taught. Then send them back to their seats (if applicable).
After another long pause, launch into a reteaching of the same activity but now with an even greater level of detail and expectation.
In other words, you’re going to ask for more or better than what was previously expected. This could include an additional step, faster performance, better focus, more eye contact, greater production, etc.
As long as the bar is raised in some manner, no matter what it is, you’re doing it right.
There is something about asking students to meet an even higher standard in such moments that shocks them back into right behavior. It wakes them up and reignites their motivational engines.
After the lesson, which should be highly detailed, participatory, and taught with passion, get them right back up on the horse. Have them show you, prove to you, and themselves, that they are indeed capable of exceptional performance.
This also gives you a chance to give them worthy and enthusiastic praise—which, when based on truth, is itself a powerful motivator.
So the next time your class tests you will shoddy work or careless performance, don’t look the other way or let them off the hook. Instead, seize the opportunity to make your class even better.
Crank up your expectations, reset the bar on a higher rung, and those subpar moments will rarely, if ever, happen again.
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How would you respond to students who don’t try at all on important standardized tests that unfortunately impact teacher salaries? We can’t have them re do it. We can’t do anything. They just instituted pay for performance bonuses starting next year. I’d appreciate ideas from you. I should add that these tests are ridiculously difficult for them and the average in the district gets is 45%.
Hi Wendy,
I’ll be sure to put this topic on the list of future articles.
I have long thought that ,with all the technology at hand we could be quizzing them all year and collecting data. Why the need for standardized tests anymore when we can capture data real time andbeable to see if theyre getting whats really being taught.
There’s this mentality that itd be too hard. It’s not. You could make it like a jeopardy game,wheel of fortune or monopoly and theycan log answers on their chromebooks. This could be made fun and engaging and it wouldgive most an incentive to try!
You wouldnt need to tell them its a test, so there would be no anxiety, and it could be madeout to be something they look forward to.
Awesome question, Wendy! Very relevant.
How can performance bonuses be paid to teachers according to how their learners do in tests and exams?
Just because a learner doesn’t do well in math, doesn’t mean that the teacher isn’t good/excellent/inspiring/passionate.
Capable/bright learners on the other hand can still excel at maths, IN SPITE of below average teaching practices in the classroom.
Many learners have private tutoring after school hours. This can improve their marks and may have nothing to do with the teacher in the classroom.
I have two grade 10 math classes. The class averages are around 30% and 60%.
In my weaker class, I have a learner achieving over 80% like many of learners in my stronger class.
By the time kids get to high school, there are SO MANY factors that HAVE influenced and will continue to influence their math performance and marks.
So am I worthy of a performance bonus or not?????
Thanks for the article, very informative. This is something I struggled with this year, performance dropped like a brick and I dropped expectations to meet them. My biggest worry is the self-esteem of the students. The learning gaps in my class are immense. If I’m consistently handing out C’s, D’s, and F’s for teaching grade level content, is reteaching and ratcheting up the difficulty going to pull more out of them still, or is there another twist? Thanks in advance and keep the articles coming.
Hi Robert,
Yes, your students can and will rise to meet your challenges, but they have to feel the weight of your continuing to shift responsibility—for listening, learning, and doing their best—onto their shoulders. This is covered in large degree in The Happy Teacher Habits, but I’ll revisit this topic here on the blog in the future.
Thanks Michael, still finishing up Dream Class, will check that one next
I think I might have done something along these lines yesterday with my class. They consistently “zone out” after special class each day. We have noticed this with all 1st grade classes regardless of content covered at that time.
In previous times when this has occurred I have done a variety of things including making them wait on snack time until after content (usually it’s right before), putting their heads down for thinking time and giving them math fact work sheets to fill in for the entire class period.
Yesterday however, as I could feel my frustration level rising with only a small number of students attending and participating I asked them to put their heads down so that I could figure out what I needed to do. While considering my options, it occurred to me that I wanted to reward those that had been doing what was asked of them, so I let each of them choose a classroom learning station to go to for the remainder of that period. For the others, I simply said that we were going to continue with the lesson. This happened to be content that my class had struggled on so I said that since they hadn’t been participating that I didn’t have enough information to know if they had gotten the content or not.
While it wasn’t my intent, the tears began to roll. Once we finished the lesson and I had them clean up, I looked and saw that each of them had gotten up and gone to a station. I simply said, “Clean up stations. It’s time for us to go to lunch.” They were NOT happy campers. I’ll have to wait until Monday to see what impact it made.
What if it’s an issue of pre-requisite skills and you aren’t allowed to fix it because it’s to deep and complex? Like Second Graders who can read expected to analyze a complex piece of lit and then write about it.
Great article. Will the Elementary Plan ever be available for sale in UK pounds?
Thanks Roberta! I’ll look into it.
hello i had several disaster experiences , i enter the class its loud they are jumping a found playing and i signal and no one hears my voice , i rise my voice then i scream and nothing as i am not there.
how can i get their attention if they are not hearing me, and i tried getting a whistle like the gem teacher , it didn’t work. they are so so so loud and don’t care about me
Maya. Is this when doing relief teaching or with a class you have regularly? If it is a class you have regularly you have time to set boundaries and win respect. Read through this blog or the books. If it is relief teaching in this situation you could wait quietly until they settle down but you would probably need to get the support of a teacher who has some authority when you first enter a room and then, perhaps with the continued support of a teacher or a school leader for a half hour or so, give them a prepared talk about behaviour, expectations and consequences. But you need to have a behaviour plan and be clear in your head. Then have some fun, engaging, quiet work activities prepared to start the day.
I would not shout or use a whistle, this will worsen behaviour.
When I was doing relief teaching and came across a particularly recalcitrant group – feet draped across tables, paper planes flying, defiant sneers on faces, I used to tell them we would be going out for a sports lesson if they would listen nicely to my behaviour talk for fifteen minutes. Once I had delivered my behaviour talk (based partly on Michael Linsin’s approach) I would take them to PE. Of course when I took them to PE I would go through structured steps, watch like a hawk and get them to practise anything they got wrong. Then we would have a great PE lesson (most kids love it), the kids would get into a good mood and stop sneering and the rest of the day would always go somewhere between okay and great.
Great article and advice.
Whenever it happens, it’s not time to back off and quit. It’s time to bring them back and explicitly go through the lesson material. If you know your kids, you know what they can and can’t do. The only caution I would exercise is if you are a novice teacher and either I) didn’t choose appropriate curriculum objective, expectation or skills for students; ii) lack the skill to explicitly teach students how to achieve the class objective .
Micheal, I purchased the management plan for Elementary teachers back in May. Read through the material and went back to review before school starts. However,the site said my time had expired. Any advice or help that I can go back to reread the material? I would appreciate it. Also, can the book be printed? I tried to print but no printable icon. Thanks, Penny
Hi Penny,
Once you download the PDF to your device, it’s yours. It does not expire and can be printed. Email me with the email address you used to purchase and I’ll make sure we send you a new link.