One reason many teachers struggle with misbehavior, disrespect, and the like is because they’re not strong leaders. In other words, they lack . . .
Presence
Confidence
Boldness
Courage
They tend to have an external locus of control and difficulty grasping that they alone can create the teaching experience they want.
They’re an oar-less skiff adrift at sea, knocked about by the currents of chance.
Thus, who is on their roster, their level of support from administration, and the degree that parents “care”—among other things—take on monumental importance.
As it relates to having a happy and well-behaved class, however, none of it matters. What matters is your classroom management ability combined with a set of leadership traits anyone can adopt.
Here’s how:
Decide
Locus of control, whether internal or external, isn’t so much who you are, but rather a decision you make. You either decide to let life happen to you or you take the reins.
It’s easy given the current educational climate and culture to point the finger elsewhere.
But when you decide to take control and responsibility anyway, despite outside forces—real or perceived, you’re given a key that opens extraordinary leadership that students respect and admire.
Commit
If you’ve decided that SCM is the right classroom management approach for you and your students, then you must embrace it whole hog.
To be effective, you have to leave your old habits behind and commit fully. Not only will SCM work as it should, but your presence, confidence, boldness, and courage will grow naturally and without effort.
You’ll feel, act, and speak differently and your students will respond with a level of reverence that you didn’t know existed.
Deliver
With SCM—or any success method regardless of endeavor—you have to perform. There is no way around it. The good news is that anyone can do it.
All it takes is to follow through on your promises. In the beginning, you may have to psych yourself up and be more disciplined than you’ve been in the past.
You may have to visualize and meditate on it each day before school. This is okay, and normal. But once you begin to see the fruits of your clear and simple execution, being consistent gets easier and easier.
Do
While two of the three leadership traits above are mental constructs, all three are actions. You do them. You don’t have to pretend or fake it ’til you make it. You just have to do.
Great leadership is the result of deciding, committing, and delivering.
I’ve been told that my classroom management confidence borders on the absurd. But it’s not inborn. I’m confident only because I embrace the things that make strong and influential leadership the natural result.
To have the kind of presence and self-assurance that changes how students respond to you and behave in your classroom, stop trying to be a leader and start doing what leaders actually do.
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