Both the educator and the student have multiple jobs in the classroom. Often these jobs cause clashes between the two.
The educator helps students learn and grow into responsible, knowledgeable, and successful individuals while keeping them physically and psychologically safe.
Amongst the students’ jobs are: asking and answering questions; completing in-class assignments and consistently aligning behavior to classroom norms.
As the students age and mature, they often rebel against the authority of the educator and test them in the process.
How the educators bend, break or stand their ground within the classroom can vary wildly.
(Below) is a post on teach4theheart.com that discusses how an educator can walk the tightrope of being nice or sometimes, too nice, but maintaining authority in the classroom.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE “TOO NICE” OF A TEACHER
You’re being too nice. You’ve got to toughen up.
If you’ve heard those words anytime recently, chances are you’re a bit frustrated – and maybe even a little confused.
Your students aren’t really listening to you, and you’re having trouble keeping order in your classroom, but being mean isn’t really in your nature.
Do you really have to stop being nice?
Thankfully, no. But that doesn’t mean you can keep going as is either.
One of the keys to being a great teacher with great classroom control is to have the right balance in your demeanor – to keep being nice while also holding yourself and your students to high standards.
TO BE AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER ….
- Be both kind and firm. The best teachers are personable, understanding, and even fun to be around. But this in no way means they’re a pushover. They kindly but firmly deal with issues that come up, and their students know they mean business.
- Have high expectations. Don’t think you’re being nice to your students when you lower your expectations. Instead, believe in them and their abilities, and call out the best in them. Expect great things and hold them to it.
- Focus on being respected instead of being liked. If you’re worried about whether or not your students like you, you’re really going to struggle to deal with issues properly. Instead, make it your goal to earn their respect.
- View yourself as your students’ mentor, not their friend. You should absolutely care about your students and want to be involved in their lives. But you must take the role of mentor, not friend. A mentor guides his students without acting like a peer or stooping to their level.
- Be friendly, not familiar. Be friendly and open in your interactions with students but avoid being familiar. For example, if a student shares with you that they got to go snorkeling on their recent vacation, a friendly response may sound like this: “Wow, Adam, it sounds like you and your family had a great time! I love snorkeling. Did you get to see any turtles?” On the other hand, a familiar response would be, “Dude, that’s sweet! I’m so jealous! Although I betcha’ you were scared of sharks, huh?” See the difference?
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One of the billions of valuable lessons I have learned as an educator regard having a short memory.
A student can embody different personalities depending on the day: rebel, angel or apathetic human.
So, make no assumptions or hold no grudges when a student or classroom of students act disrespectfully because the next class period can bring the same student(s) with a completely different personality.
Another lesson is for the educator to do their best to keep their ego out of the equation when a student or entire class test our patience to its’ breaking point.
Each class period is a new chance to start over when applicable and to admit failure to your students and/or apologize for irrational, emotional behavior.
I recently read a classroom management book that stated that the successful teacher shares his/her passion of their subject and, no matter the challenges, never allows anger to seep into the imparting of their lesson.
The classroom truly is (or should always) be a place where both educator and student is open to learning at all times.