Expect pushback and challenges to your authority during the first few weeks of school, especially if you teach in an exceptionally challenging environment.
It’s normal, and it’s okay.
You see, for now your students aren’t who they really are (or who they can become). They’re testing you. They want to know if you’re the real deal or just like all the rest.
Some students see it as a game. It humors them to disrupt your class and get under your skin. Others, as human nature dictates, don’t want someone they don’t know or trust telling them what to do.
Just the way it is in this day and age.
They’re going to push boundaries, say cruel things, and try something outrageous behind your back. You may even get an eyeball stare and refusal to do something simple, like sit down at their desk.
The SCM approach is good for students short- and long-term and they appreciate it. Eventually. They don’t always see it right away.
Although this underscores the importance of explaining the ‘why’ of your classroom management plan, and being pleasant and good-humored from the start, many students need proof of your consistent actions before they’ll sign on.
Again, just the way it is.
But here’s the bigger issue and the reason for this article: Most teachers will panic and jump ship in the face of even semi-aggressive push-back.
Despite a summer of declaring that “things will be different this time,” they’ll let someone off the hook within the first two weeks. They’ll pretend they didn’t see what they just saw. They’ll falsely believe that their students, unique in all the world, are unable to follow rules.
But early on, your students aren’t who they really are.
How do I know? Because I see it every year. For me, and thousands of other SCM teachers, it’s not a big deal. It’s expected if you’re at a tough school.
There is no reason to worry or stress out about it. You’re dead wrong to assume that chaos and disrespect is your fate or that your particular students can’t behave.
So relax. It’s okay. Continue to be pleasant, stay the course, and reteach your plan in even greater detail. Do what you say you’re going to do.
One by one, as long as you remain calm and unmovable, your students will leap as if from a burning building onto your side. They’ll appreciate you in the current milieu more than ever because you’re a rarity and bring uncommon peace your classroom.
There will always be students willing to stay in the fire longer than others. They’ve learned through their behavior that they can eventually get the adults in their life to cave and subserviate. Sure, it may be what they think they want.
But deep down, just under their conscious awareness, they hate it and hate you for giving in. They really want something (and someone) to believe in. We all do.
They’re just not sure it exists. They’ve been lied to and hurt too many times in their young life. They’ve been flattered and manipulated and told in not so many words that they’re weirdly different and don’t have the ability to control themselves.
You must let them stay in the fire as long as it takes while offering the cool waters of true self-worth, earned only through hard work, right behavior, and accepting an invitation from you to be part of something special and bigger than themselves.
Those very same students who right now are so mean and sneaky and distrustful are the same students who in just a few weeks will have your back against King Kong.
But only if you persevere undaunted. Chicken out, give in, and be another spineless pushover and you’ll never know what they’re capable of.
You’ll never make an impact they’ll remember forever. You’ll never know the feeling of changing a life. Instead, you’ll reason with them. You’ll manipulate them with false praise and promises of rewards. You’ll counsel and lecture and glare.
You’ll walk on eggshells and make excuses for them and for you.
And predictably, through a roller coaster of illusionary ups and lots of downs, they’ll disrupt your class, stomp on the rights of others to learn, and have you over a barrel.
If you’re reading this, however, I know you’re sick of it. Every year. The fear. The stress. You want something better, something different. You want something real and powerful and lasting—for both you and your students.
And you can have it. You really can. But you must be as unyielding as an iron stake driven into frozen ground.
You must walk into your classroom tomorrow or whenever your school year begins and lay it all out. This is how it’s going to be that’s all there is to it.
Erect the borders that protect learning and enjoying your classroom for everyone and defend them like the Praetorian Guard. Accept no excuses. Shift heavier and heavier loads of responsibility onto your students’ shoulders and transform them into your dream class.
Damn the naysayers, complainers, and squawking doormats.
Stand to your full height and do what needs to be done. Empowering students to own up to their mistakes and experience the deep satisfaction of improving themselves and their academic skills is the most compassionate thing you can do.
The power is in your hands.
So what are you waiting for?
PS – From some of the comments and questions (particularly those regarding the use of points in the high school plan), some readers don’t have enough grasp of SCM to make it work. It isn’t difficult, but a semi-understanding will fail every time.
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