What Great Teachers Do Differently - Prevention versus Revenge

Prevention versus Revenge
As we continue on our journey through Todd Whitaker's book What Great Teachers Do Differently, we are looking at the 17 things that matter most.  This chapter deals with student discipline.  It offers a great way to think about classroom management, and more importantly discipline.

The first thing that struck me while reading this chapter is the mindset of how to deal with a student who misbehaves.  Whitaker states "Effective teachers want to prevent misbehavior, whereas ineffective teachers focus on punishing a student ... (Whitaker, 25)".  The effective teacher finds ways and deals with a student in a manner that will prevent the misbehavior from happening again.  The ineffective teacher will punish the behavior and often times see the same behavior happen again.  Ineffective teachers deal with the past, whereas effective teachers deal with the future.

When misbehavior happens, all eyes are usually on the teacher to see how he/she responds to the situation.  If the teacher blows up, yells, or embarrasses the student, often times the behaviors will reoccur.  If a teacher can deal with the student at an opportune time and in a private matter, often times the behavior will not reoccur.  Students are smart, if they know the teacher will fly off the handle while everyone is watching, the student got what they wanted...attention and amusement.

In short, deal with the future not the past when handling misbehaving students.

As usual, there is so much more in this chapter, so I highly recommend reading this great book by Todd Whitaker.