If I randomly appeared in your classroom and asked your students “How does your teacher deal with poor student choices and conflict?” what would they say?
Actually, scratch that. What word would be more likely to appear in their reply –Might or Would?
If they say s/he “might” do this or “might” do that, then you are likely operating from an implicit framework. This, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad Teacher or that you’re doing harm to young people. What it means is that there’s some guesswork involved for your students because the response they get from you is dependent on two things – your mood and the circumstances.
If they say s/he “would” do this or “would” do that, then your practice framework could be described as explicit – meaning that you have a plan for your classroom conduct and that you’ve shared it with your students. The guesswork around circumstance has been eliminated, because we’ve already agreed on how you’ll be dealing with the inevitabilities of weird, random, inexplicable student behaviours.
Good people can enter classrooms with the best of intentions and flounder. It’s usually because they didn’t have a plan.
Conversely, I’ve seen decidedly mediocre Teachers get through the vagaries of a day’s work just because they were explicit about their practice choices.
Imagine you could harness your inherent goodness within a consistent framework for practice. Imagine the stress of teaching dropping away and being replaced by a newfound effectiveness.
That’s what you’re standing on the edge of right now. We do an awful amount of planning for what we’re going to teach in today’s schools, but often very little forhow we’ll teach.
Getting explicit about your how plan, might just be the most productive thing you’ll do in 2019.
RESTORATIVE CLASSROOMS, STRONG CLASSROOMS – SYDNEY
Restorative Practices, done right, has proven to be the key to improving Student-Teacher relationships, driving up engagement, building a respectful culture and enhancing teacher effectiveness. And here’s the kicker – it’s fantastic for reducing Teacher Stress too.
RESTORATIVE CLASSROOMS, STRONG CLASSROOMS – MELBOURNE
One day is all it takes to transform your instructional model, your relational focus and your classroom climate. It’s really a no-brainer!
RESTORATIVE CLASSROOMS, STRONG CLASSROOMS – PERTH
Teacher stress is caused by the absence of a plan for improvement in student behaviour. This day is about building that plan.