Miss Peach’s approach
It is typical for an unprepared teacher to stand in front of boys and girls and immediately win their love. While almost all good teachers want to be liked in the classroom, some become overly dependent on how children treat them.
On the first day of the new school year in September, the new teacher, Miss Peach, has a short conversation with the students, the main point of which is this: “I am very, very glad that we met with you. This year will be wonderful for you, we will do various interesting things, we will draw a very big picture on this wall. We will go for walks, play games… It will be a very good year. You will love me, and I will love you, and everything will be fine with us.
Her classes are filled with amusement, entertainment, interesting inventions that serve as an expression of her love for her students. For the first day of school, all this is very good, because the children are somewhat frightened by the start of the new school year. But three days later, little Butch, sitting to the left of the teacher, asks the same question as everyone else: how malleable and malleable is Miss Peach? He wants to earn a reputation as a tough guy, and there is an opportunity to do this at the expense of the teacher.
Deftly seizing the moment, he challenges her in an act of slight disobedience. The last thing Miss Peach wants to do is get into a conflict with someone, because she hopes that in the first year she will be able to do without it. She does not answer Butch’s challenge, pretending not to notice his disobedience. He won that first little fight and everyone in the class noticed it. The case was not so important, but Butch got away with it, and that was what mattered.
The next day, shortly after the flag is raised, Matthew, greatly encouraged by Butch’s success, breaks discipline a little more openly than he does. Once again, Miss Peach ignores the challenge. From that moment on, chaos in the classroom begins to escalate. Two weeks later, Miss Peach discovers that things are not going the way she would like. She has to yell at the children a lot every day, and she cannot understand how it started. After all, she did not want to be evil with children at all. By February, the classroom environment becomes unbearable. All her plans are doomed to failure because she is not in control. And then something happens that she did not expect at all: the children openly express their contempt for her. They give her nicknames, laugh at her weaknesses. If she, unfortunately, has a physical defect — a big nose or poor eyesight, then she will be regularly reminded of this. Miss Peach cries softly during breaks, and at night her temples throb and her head ache with pain. The principal comes in and, seeing the anarchy in her classroom, says, «Miss Peach, you have to exercise control over the children!» But she does not know how to exercise this control, because she did not notice when she lost it.
It is estimated that 80 percent of teachers who leave their jobs after their first year of teaching are forced to do so because of their inability to maintain discipline in their classroom. In view of this, some colleges and teacher training courses introduce classes in student management techniques into their programs. But not all! In a number of states, legislatures require compulsory teaching of academic subjects that would allow educators to develop normal working relationships in the classroom. But again, this is not done everywhere, despite the fact that the assimilation of educational material is impossible if chaos reigns in the classroom.
Mrs. Justice’s Discipline
Now let us turn to the opposite example, which we find in the method of the more experienced teacher, Mrs. Justice. She also wants her students to love her, but at the same time she feels her responsibility for their fate more acutely. On the first day of school, she also gives her opening speech, but her speech is very different from what Ms. Peach said. It boils down to: “I hope this will be a good year for you and me. I’m glad you all ended up in my class. You must remember that none of you is indifferent to me. Please ask about anything you want to know. I would like you to feel good among your comrades. I will not allow anyone to laugh at you, because it is insulting when they laugh at you. I will never intentionally offend you and will try to become your friend. Well, now let’s get down to the work that we have to do today. Take your math textbook and open it to page four.»
Mrs. Justice’s words sound very confident. Nevertheless, after three days, his Butch is also found here. (There are at least one copy of them in every class. Even if they leave the school in the middle of the year, other troublemakers take their place.) He sends a small challenge to Mrs. Justice, but does not take her by surprise. She expected such an outburst from him and gives him a good thrashing. He loses on all counts! Every student in the class is learning a lesson: don’t hurt Mrs. Justice, it’s not safe. That poor old Butch had a hard time!
Mrs. Justice now delivers the little speech she’s been saving for this moment:
“I want each of you to remember something. Your parents have entrusted me with teaching you some important things this year, and I don’t want to disappoint them. My duty is to prepare you so that you can succeed in your next class. Therefore, I cannot allow one or two amateurs to show off to interfere with my work. And I tell those who are going to interfere with me that a very unenviable fate awaits them. I have many ways to get you in trouble, and I will not hesitate to use them. Have questions? Okay, let’s keep working.»
By November, Mrs. Justice comes to the conclusion that she has achieved her goal: the students know that she is harder, smarter and more courageous than them. And now you can please them, let them feel the pleasant aspects of the system that she laid down. There are opportunities to slightly loosen control, now she laughs together with the students, talks about different things, plays. But when she says, «Time to get to work,» then everyone obeys, because they know that Mrs. Justice will be able to force. She does not yell at them, does not abuse her power. Moreover, love for each of them emanates from her, which children so need. The class responds to her with the same deep love that each of the little men sitting at the tables will carry through their whole lives. Mrs. Justice experiences the greatest satisfaction that is possible in the teaching profession — the feeling of her profound impact on human destinies.
In conclusion, I want to add that tens of thousands of such Mrs. Justice work today in the public and private education system and devote their entire lives to teaching children. For the contribution they make to the development of the country’s human potential, they deserve to be listed among the most respected members of society. Each of us, turning to childhood memories, can find such a Mrs. Justice, who instilled in us the joy of learning and helped us become who we are now.
When Mrs. Justice tells her students that she has enough means to make the life of the disobedient uncomfortable, I wonder what she means. In my classroom, I feel helpless. What are the possibilities in this regard, bearing in mind all the restrictions that are currently being placed on teachers?
When a school district is determined to maintain discipline and order in the schools, there is much that Mrs. Justice can do if she is forced to do so. Before pointing out some specific methods, I would like to say that a teacher with a strong character rarely carries out his threats. In this sense, he is similar to his father, who may be more strict, but punishes children less often than his mother. It has something of a confident leader making it clear, «Don’t make me go too far.» There is also an element of convincing bluff. The reaction of the teacher to the first challenge to his authority is important; as was the case with Mrs. Justice. The ability of the teacher to show love for the students also plays a role. Unfortunately, these skills are not so easy to teach and not so easy to wrap them in short formulas suitable for textbooks. This can be learned from experience and a good example.
My wife, who became an excellent teacher and skillfully managed her students, adopted the new method from another teacher who taught in a parallel second class. Her colleague used a technique that proved to be very effective when applied to seven-year-olds. She spoke in a soft, quiet voice that made the children listen very carefully to her words. She somehow managed to cultivate in her thirty pets a calm and composed manner, with which she guided them. Throughout the year, her classroom was more like a public library, where visitors whisper to each other, silently walk between the shelves.
Now I would like to answer the same question more specifically, referring to the situation where some students maliciously and consistently force teachers to show their cards completely. What to do in this case? Everything, of course, depends on the age of the wards, but I will give an answer designed for sixth graders. First, you need to determine what motives these rebels are guided by. Usually they are driven by the desire to attract the attention of the group. Some children would rather be thought of as obnoxious than not thought at all. Ignorance is unacceptable for them. The ideal recipe for them is to stop their antics and then give them the opportunity to satisfy their need for the attention of others using less disruptive methods.
I had to deal with a little sixth grader named Larry. His mouth never closed. He constantly disrupted the class with stupid antics, cleverness and gooey jokes. His teacher and I built a fence for him in the front row, from where he could only look straight ahead and not see the other children. After that, every time Larry behaved inappropriately, he was isolated from the class for a week in this way, and he was deprived of the reinforcing influence of others. Of course, he could continue to misbehave in his cell, but he did not see the effect that his behavior had on his peers, and they did not see Larry. In addition, each trick led to a lengthening of the period of isolation.
Larry spent a month in this relative loneliness before kicking his habit. When he reunited with his comrades, his teacher immediately began to encourage all cases of correct behavior on his part. He was given the most honorable assignments, he performed the functions of a messenger, headman, etc. All his successes were publicly celebrated. The results exceeded all expectations.
It must be admitted that sometimes such methods of dealing with disobedience do not work. But there is no method that would be suitable for every child. In these cases I have recommended what is called «systematic deletion». Parents of misbehaving students should be invited to the school and informed of the problems. They should then be made clear that if they want their children to stay in a public school, there needs to be interaction from the three sides of the student, the school and the parents. There should be an agreement that the mother or father is ready to come to school during the day and pick up their child if called. The student himself must be informed that he can come to school every morning, but as soon as he breaks one of the generally accepted rules, he will be sent home without taking into account any protests. He may be sent off for pushing a neighbor in formation at 9:01. The same consequences can have a misdemeanor committed at 1 hour 15 minutes or even later, at the end of the school day. The removal will be unconditional, although he will have the right to appear at the beginning of the lessons the next day.
Contrary to the common belief that children hate school, most of them even more hate being forced to stay at home. Daytime TV shows can be quite boring, and you have to watch them under the unfriendly gaze of a mother who had to quit her job to pick up a bad son from school. Being placed under such control, the child soon gets rid of the tendency to violate discipline. It becomes unprofitable to challenge the system. And this should be followed by positive reinforcement in the form of rewards if he is trying to get on the right path in learning and behavior.
I happened to work with another child in the correctional class. He was spoken of as the most difficult young patient ever seen in the main neuropsychiatric hospital in Los Angeles. After being subjected to the above-described control system for four months, he was able to attend regular public school classes. If you are able to influence the variable components of behavior, you can control the behavior as a whole.
In conclusion, I will return to the remark in connection with your question, which I made at the very beginning. It all depends on the position taken by the local school district. Where the council and district administration are serious about maintaining discipline and order, the situation can be mastered. The educator is not left to fight alone with a class filled with an energetic, giggling and clamoring army that outnumbers him. The teacher in the classroom is like a police officer in a patrol car — he can call for reinforcements at any time, and no one should blame him for this.
Every teacher must be sure of the full support of the headmaster. Having teaching experience, I must say that I would not agree to work in a place where discipline is not paid attention to.
You did not mention corporal punishment as a means of dealing with violations of the order. Do you believe in the usefulness of such punishments in relation to the student?
Corporal punishment is not effective in middle and high school, and I don’t recommend it. They can be useful against elementary school students, especially against amateur jesters (as opposed to stubborn professionals). I am also opposed to the abolition of corporal punishment in schools, because we systematically deprive the teacher of the tools with which he has backed up his words from time immemorial. We already have very few of these precious funds left. Don’t go any further in this direction.
Can you tell me about another way to keep order in the class? In this day and age, any such advice can be of great help to teachers who are striving to more firmly guide their students. Describe any method that has justified itself.
Here is a method that might come in handy. My wife Shirley taught at the school for five years, after which she stopped working due to the birth of a child. A few years later, when Danaë grew up, Shirley took on a part-time teaching position to help our family financially while I was in graduate school. The first thing she felt when she returned to school was the complexity of the position of an arrogant teacher, who is much more difficult to keep the class in line than the main teacher.
“Well, guys, today we will have fun!” she heard the cries that resounded at her appearance.
Somehow Shirley and I sat down and began to think about why she had to fight with her students every day (she taught lessons in grades two to five). “It is not enough to love them,” she said. “We need some other way to keep them in line.”
We combined our thinking abilities and came up with a method that we called «Magic Chalk». Its meaning was as follows. Shirley came to class early and drew a skull and crossbones on the left side of the blackboard. Below it was written: «Poison List.» Still lower was a plain sheet of paper. Shirley then opened the door and invited the students to enter. Greeting her pets affectionately, she didn’t say a word about the drawing on the blackboard. A few minutes later, someone raised their hand and asked the question that was on everyone’s tongue: «What is this on the blackboard?» “Oh yes,” said Mrs. Dobson, “I was just about to tell you about The Toxic List. First, today I will tell you about how to behave in class.
She explained that you should raise your hand if you want to say something, stay where you are until you are told to leave, and call for help when you need a sheet of paper, if your pencil breaks, etc.
“If you forget these rules and break them, I will ask the guilty person to write his name to the left of this drawing. Nothing bad will happen from this. But if after that you break the rules two more times, then…” here her voice took on an ominous sound, “then your name will end up on the Poison List.” The only thing I can tell you right now is don’t let it happen.» Shirley never revealed to them what would happen to those unfortunates whose names would be included in this terrible list, but it sounded terrifying. She hinted that it would have something to do with the headmaster, but didn’t go beyond that.
After that, Shirley quickly walked over to her desk, on the edge of which lay a brand new piece of chalk in a cup.
«Which of you knows what it is?» she asked cheerfully.
«It’s a piece of chalk,» they answered in unison.
“No,” said Mrs. Dobson. “It really looks like an ordinary piece of chalk, but in reality it is far from it. This is a magical chalk. Believe it or not, this little white thing knows how to listen. She has ears on this side. The chalk can see you. It has eyes on this end. (Both were drawn beforehand.)
The magic crayon will now sit here on the edge of my desk, watching you and listening to what you are talking about. But there are some things he will be watching especially closely. And if he sees a girl or a boy who is working very hard and behaving very quietly, then suddenly he will be on the table of this student or student. If you find a piece of chalk on your desk, don’t ask what you should do, but go straight to the blackboard and write your name on the right side. And then at the end of the very last lesson, a reward will be waiting for you — I will allow you to leave school three minutes earlier than everyone else.
«Great business!» you think. Yes, three minutes is not much in itself, but the position of a person chosen by the magic crayon, the right to write his name on the blackboard in front of almost the whole world and then the opportunity to leave the class while the rest are still sitting in their seats, yes this is more precious than all treasures! And to this we must also add the excitement with which everyone tries to get the chalk to himself.
The system worked great because the kids loved it. In the two years that Shirley had been using it, every day the names of most of the children ended up on the magic chalk list. But during the same time, not a single name appeared on the «Poison List».
I believe that this method has all the elements of a well thought out system. First, the children found it entertaining. Secondly, they received something as a reward for discipline, and they had something to lose in case of disobedience. Thirdly, the method did not include manifestations of anger on the part of the teacher. And fourthly, it was easy to use.
Unleash your creativity and come up with your own method. Children in elementary school love games, fantasies, symbolism, different status. When they move into middle and high school, it will be much harder to seduce them with anything.
Were any of the school’s parents complaining about Shirley using the symbol of death or the kids being left unsupervised for three minutes? And is it right to create in children associations with poison — that is, a deadly substance?
As far as I know, no one criticized this system, although, of course, they could. In our time, any system of strengthening discipline is criticized by someone. Do we leave children at school after school — we are told that the school day is already long enough. Whether we force a student to write the same sentence a hundred times, we hear that this is a waste of energy, giving nothing in the sense of knowledge. When a really difficult child is expelled from school, there are people who say that they do not justify it from a philosophical point of view, and they say that corporal punishment is cruel and does not work. There is no way to manage children that is not attacked by someone. I think, however, that teachers should be given some leeway for our common good. Otherwise, chaos will reign in the classrooms.
Mara Volynsky wrote in her «Confessions» that at the «Sea and Sand» school, the educational process was not organized and, in general, education was not streamlined so as not to damage the creative abilities of children. Is it possible to agree with this?
We’ve all heard the warning that rigid discipline undermines creativity, and that this is backed up by research. It seems to me that creative abilities can be developed to the full only where there is enough order so that a person can concentrate. Chaos and creativity are incompatible. On the other hand, overly severe restrictions also interfere with the process of cognition, and this is precisely the result of the research. As always, we are returning to balance. She should dominate the school.
What would you do if your child, while studying in elementary school, got into a class where there is no order and the teacher is not able to put it in place?
I would do anything to transfer my child to another teacher. When a girl or boy has an example of incompetence in front of their eyes for ten months, it can lead to bad habits and wrong views. If the financial situation allows, then you can think about homeschooling or transferring to a private school.
You pointed out that Seattle Alternative School has no formal curriculum, no schedule, no grades, etc. From this I conclude that you, on the contrary, are in favor of a program that emphasizes the memorization of individual facts. This seems to me to be a very low level of knowledge. We must plant concepts in the minds of children, teach them to think, and not cram armfuls of fragmentary information into their heads.
I agree that we should teach children to think conceptually, but this cannot happen in a vacuum. Suppose that we set out to explain to them the principle of the structure of the solar system and the position of the planets revolving around the sun. How to do it? One way is to tell them the distances between the celestial bodies, that is, that the Sun is 93 million miles from the Earth and the Moon is only 240 miles. The theoretical explanation of their mutual position will be more easily understood on the basis of this factual information. My point is that knowledge of factual information can and should pave the way for conceptual knowledge.
The human brain is capable of storing two billion bits of information in a lifetime. The programming of the brain proceeds in various ways, and memorization is one of them. Let me explain my point as follows. If you are destined to go under the surgeon’s knife, you would prefer that you get a doctor who remembered — I emphasize: I remembered! — every muscle, every bone, every blood vessel and every lymph node from the textbook. Your life will depend on his possession of factual information and the ability to apply it during the operation. Of course, I categorically reject the point of view among some scientists who say: «Our knowledge is so inaccurate that there is no point in knowing anything.» People with such views should not be allowed to teach. These are merchants without goods.
My observations coincide with yours: elementary, middle and even high school students like strict teachers more. What explains this?
Teachers who can enforce order are often the most respected, unless they are arrogant and peevish. If the teacher knows how to hold the class in his hands without undue pressure, the love of the students is almost guaranteed to him. The thing is, security is in order. If the class is unruly, especially in elementary school, children are afraid of each other. And since the teacher cannot make them behave properly, how can she protect the weak from the bully? How can she prevent ridicule of less capable students? Children are not very fair and reasonable in their relations with each other, and they like to have a teacher who has these qualities.
In addition, children value justice. When someone breaks the rules, they expect immediate retribution. They admire a teacher who can set the same rules for everyone and enforce them, and they are extremely pleased when reasonably high demands are placed on them. On the contrary, when the teacher does not control the class, this inevitably leads to the fact that the wrong one triumphs, and thus a very important principle embedded in the children’s value system is violated.
Further, children like strict teachers because the mess gets on their nerves. Noise, bickering, and fidgeting can be pleasurable for ten minutes before becoming tiresome and annoying.
It often gave me great pleasure to hear how astutely little boys in second or third grade judged the ability of their mentors to keep order. They know exactly how to manage the class. I only wish that all their teachers had this knowledge to the same extent.
Can you say in general terms to what extent children should be loaded with work?
There must be a reasonable balance between work and play. In the old days, many village children had such daily household chores that made their lives very difficult. Early in the morning and after school, they had to feed the pigs, collect the eggs from the hens, milk the cows, bring firewood. There was little time left for entertainment, and childhood passed rather dull. But it was extreme, and I absolutely would not want those times to return.
But compare this amount of responsibility with the opposite extreme recommended by Neil. According to him, we should not ask a child to water the lawn or let the cat out. If we follow his advice, then all we need to do is let our children eat their fill and, lying on their full stomachs, watch empty TV shows for six to eight hours a day, while textbooks and notebooks gather dust somewhere in the corner. As is usually the case, both extremes are harmful to the child. It is necessary to find a logical middle ground, when the son or daughter would bear their share of responsibility and fulfill their duties, but at the same time they would have time for games and entertainment. How much time is allotted for both depends on the age of the child, and gradually, as the children grow older, work should occupy an increasing place.