tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post8593028028476550277..comments2024-03-09T03:28:44.216-05:00Comments on Thoughts on Education Policy: A Letter A Principal Should Never Receive from a TeacherCorey Bunje Bowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764159604965707919noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-52007361603772700732009-08-22T09:21:35.647-04:002009-08-22T09:21:35.647-04:00All this reminds me of when I was a young teacher ...All this reminds me of when I was a young teacher in the 1960's beset by discipline problems, though my students were never as bad as you describe. I got out of teaching after a few years. I decided it was just too much. I enjoyed many things about teaching, but I decided I was not good at discipline and never would be. But from my experience I formed some definite ideas about discipline. <br /><br /> Probably the most important thing I concluded was that a school must provide the tools teachers need to maintain order in the classroom, and teachers must learn exactly what those tools are and how to use them. This sounds pretty obvious, but I think it is often poorly understood. If you don't have the tools to do your job, then you can't do your job. It's that simple. And if you don't know how to use the tools you are given then you can't do your job. Again it is just that simple. <br /><br /> But within this basic framework there is a lot of variation. Some teachers have various tools in their own personality to handle discipline problems, and for them the tools provided by the school are of secondary importance. To quite an extent they do indeed "handle their own discipline problems". Other teachers don't have many tools from their own personality to handle discipline problems, and thus must make skillful use of the tools provided by the school. For some teachers the tools from one's personality plus the tools provided by the school don't add up to enough to do the job. When that is the case one ought to get out of teaching. I felt I did become skillful in handling the tools provided by the school, but discipline was hard. <br /><br /> Two years teaching math in a prison school sharpened my perspective on these things. The prison school gave us powerful tools to maintain discipline, so discipline was relatively easy, even though our students were tough.<br /><br /> So it seems to me that it is very important to analyze just what it takes to handle discipline problems. What "tools" are needed? What "tools" must come from the school, and what "tools" must come from within? I tried to address those questions in a book I wrote and now have on my website. One particular "tool" that comes from the teacher's personality is of special importance. That is aggressiveness. Skillfully used aggressiveness can cover up for a lot of deficits in what the school provides for handling discipline. Here's a <a href="http://www.brianrude.com/Dchap03.htm" rel="nofollow"> link. </a>Brian Rudehttp://www.brianrude.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-58263501942740248052009-08-21T19:55:19.554-04:002009-08-21T19:55:19.554-04:00Roger, I mean it's unclear whether suspending ...Roger, I mean it's unclear whether suspending somebody changes their behavior post-suspension. So even if it helps the other kids while he's gone, but it might not help that much after he returns.Corey Bunje Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764159604965707919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-49204531166777570882009-08-21T18:26:21.265-04:002009-08-21T18:26:21.265-04:00It's unclear that suspensions really do much o...<i>It's unclear that suspensions really do much of anything (at least for the individual being suspended, it sure seems like it would help the class)</i><br /><br />That seems a, um, inelegant way of putting things. Suspension will probably hurt the kid being suspended and help the 20-odd kids who aren't suspended. That seems like something to me, and a pretty positive something at that.Roger Sweenyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12734128265493099062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-74696162295548145542009-08-21T16:55:49.695-04:002009-08-21T16:55:49.695-04:00cbb, I agree. When major disturbances occur in th...cbb, I agree. When major disturbances occur in the classroom, it just destroys that whole class period and no one learns anything. If they handle the smaller issues when they first occur, there will be fewer larger problems.Steve Dudenhoefferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14221051564460890073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-39106089116592131352009-08-21T16:00:21.509-04:002009-08-21T16:00:21.509-04:00RS: It's unclear that suspensions really do mu...RS: It's unclear that suspensions really do much of anything (at least for the individual being suspended, it sure seems like it would help the class), and even though it would solve the discipline problem I just think expulsion is generally too extreme. In short, I think discipline is only an easy problem to solve if we're not concerned with how we treat kids. As to not allowing disruptive students to remain in a class, I'd have to agree with that. Though NY State law would not.<br /><br />SD: A Principal should never receive such a letter b/c a teacher should never be put in such a position. The student should have been dealt with long before it got to this point -- and shouldn't have remained in the classroom after any one of these incidents.Corey Bunje Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764159604965707919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-77564671859422030062009-08-21T14:31:56.901-04:002009-08-21T14:31:56.901-04:00As a spouse of a high school teacher, I believe th...As a spouse of a high school teacher, I believe the article should be titled, "A Letter Every Principal Should Read Daily" or "Principals: Remember You Were Once a Teacher."<br /><br />My wife has been insulted, physically attacked, mocked, and often ignored. For some reason, parents and school administrators believe that if only the teachers could teach better (better classroom management), these problems would just go away.<br /><br />In reality, it will take a combined effort between teachers and administrators to make our educational system better. In fact, I believe one of the top complaints among teachers is the lack of support from administrators.Steve Dudenhoefferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14221051564460890073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-33532282501288684832009-08-21T13:20:39.747-04:002009-08-21T13:20:39.747-04:00Just before I read your post, I had finished Charl...Just before I read your post, I had finished Charles Murray's <i>Real Education</i>. It's an interesting book: fairly short, probably about 80% right, and I suspect <i>libra non grata</i> at your school. Near the end, he says:<br /><br /><i>There is no excuse for [terrible] schools. Buying the textbooks and identifying and getting rid of the terrible teachers is easy (technically easy, not politically easy). Getting the school under the control of the adults requires relentless enforcement of a few basic rules:</i><br /><br /><i>Disruptive students are not permitted to remain in class. ... Students who are chronically disruptive are suspended. ... Students who in any way threaten a teacher verbally or physically are expelled.</i><br /><br /><i>Most public school systems already have rules on the books that correspond to these basics, but in many systems they are not enforced and never will be, for reasons ranging from bureaucratic pressures to political pressures to bad principals</i>[and, he mentions in the next paragraph, lack of "alternative schools" to send the chronic disrupters]. pp. 141-2Roger Sweenyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12734128265493099062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5458172893016186479.post-57182556219281303752009-08-21T07:24:15.506-04:002009-08-21T07:24:15.506-04:00There are plenty of things wrong in our urban scho...There are plenty of things wrong in our urban schools, but how can any school administrator expect his/her teachers to maintain control of their classroom when behavior like that is not handled quickly, efficiently and severely.<br /><br />I'm not sure who is getting the worse lesson - Johnny, who is allowed to behave in that manner with impunity, or the student in my upper-middle class suburban school, who acts like an animal but then mom and dad and lawyer come in and the entire thing gets under the rug?Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17549146761189941280noreply@blogger.com