Class Calm

Two posts previous to this one centered on an idea from Carl Rogers, an American psychologist from the 20th century. This post is about Alfred Adler, an Austrian psychologist (1870-1937). Adler started as a physician but eventually made a name for himself in the field of psychology.

There is one main idea from Adler that I would like to pass on. If you have time for implementing no other ideas found in these blog posts, just implement Rogers’ methods along with Adler’s advice and you will sharply reduce your classroom management stress load.

From time-to-time teachers engage in open criticisms of students. I know that I certainly used to do this and I have seen other teachers do it as well. It almost seems like some teachers believe it is an effective teaching method. But it is not effective and you should refrain from doing it. The issue is not that some students are not lazy or disruptive or whatever. Some are. The issue is that criticism and condescension simply do not work. Such tactics may even be counterproductive. On page 28 of Adler’s The Science of Living he writes,

…it cannot be overemphasized that nothing is gained by punishing, admonishing and preaching.

If you actually read this page it will be clear that he was not even specifically discussing education here. But that fact does not void the reality that this advice is completely applicable to the classroom.

Adler is often grouped with Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. All three were pioneers in the field of psychotherapy. Adler devoted many pages in his books to both the development of children and education. It is well worth the time to go in depth with his ideas.

In any case, let’s look to his advice that tells the teacher to not preach, admonish, or punish. As I note repeatedly throughout these blog posts, the issue is not whether or not some students are disruptive or lazy or whatever. They are. Nor is the issue whether or not such students deserve to be admonished. They do. The issue is whether or not it works. It does not. If anything, it just reinforces the undesired habit of the student.

So why do it? Don’t. If a student is lazy, disruptive, off-task, chronically tardy, and so on, there are more effective ways to deal with it. Document the problem, email the student’s guidance counselor or the dean, call parent/guardian, talk to the student’s coach or other teachers, adjust your seating chart, and the list goes on. But why are you chewing up valuable instruction time with an unscripted open critique of the student? What if your administrator did that to you? Giving the student attention is often what he/she subconsciously wants. And perhaps worse, the narrative shifts from the student falling short to you coming down too hard on them. To top it off, you then wonder why you feel worn out at the end of the day. Save your energy for those that matter most in your life, such as your students who come to learn.

The shortcut in this blogsite is to simply follow the basic ideas laid out by Carl Rogers and Alfred Adler. Both are giants in the field of psychology. Simply implementing these easy and straightforward concepts with likely bring about a sharp improvement in your classroom management situation.