Class Calm

The previous post explained how a teacher needs to be diligent and timely with documenting classroom management problems. A close companion to this concept is controlling the narrative.

As we all know, when something goes wrong, whether it be in a school or any other situation, somebody usually gets blamed and somebody often will face a consequence. You, the teacher, do not want it to be you facing either of the above. So, you must control the narrative. First, it goes without saying that you always want to get it right and secondly, if you make a mistake, admit to it. But let’s let it never get to this point.

So often we hear teachers, parents, and others say when trying to correct a student “I should only have to ask once.” And they are right. You should only have to ask once. But is that realistic? No.  

Last year I had a student who liked to often show up for first period with one of the donuts that they served in the cafeteria as part of the free breakfast program. Of course there is a classroom rule against food so the first time I saw her walk in the door with her donut I did not even say anything. If every student was walking in with breakfast it would have been a different situation. But it was only her.

When the bell rang I walked over to her desk and gently reminded her of the rule disallowing food. Once seated at my desk I docked one point from her participation grade. A few days later she again approached the door with a half-eaten donut. Instead of letting her walk in and then seeing her at her desk, I gently confronted her before letting her enter. I use the word ‘gently’. This is part of controlling the narrative. I asked her again to mind the ‘no food’ rule. Did she? No. When the bell rang she was seen blissfully eating her donut. 

I could have adopted the posture of ‘the teacher should only have to ask once’ and demanded that she immediately throw the donut in the trash can. I see teachers employing similar tactics in an effort to maintain the upper hand and in some instances this may be the best approach. But generally I would say not. For me, the narrative would become full of adjectives such as overbearing or militant.

However, there needed to be a bigger consequence than before. I again docked her participation grade, issued a lunch detention, completed a write-up, and emailed the relevant parties. All of that was completed in about the next three minutes. In the following days somehow her classmates got the message that I was serious about the no eating rule as nobody in that group ever brought in food again.

Not once did I demonstrate even a small amount of impatience, scorn, exasperation, or condescension. Had I done so the narrative likely would have shifted from her breaking the rule to me responding in a less than ideal way. She would have then been in charge but because I didn’t get belligerent or even openly lay down the law, I maintained full control. The narrative was her not following the rules from start to finish.

Follow up and documentation is important because at times you will get that student who insists on reporting all the goings on in your classroom to the higher-ups. ‘Mr. Walters lets students eat in his class’. They love nothing better than see you get non-renewed at the end of the year. Believe me, I have had as many of these types as you have. This is why documentation is essential (see the previous post). If push comes to shove, you have documented everything, never raised your voice, consistently enforced the rules, and the tattle-tale is stopped in his/her tracks. 

Controlling the narrative can apply to nearly any phase of classroom management. Scolding and put downs are a choice. Choose another way.