It’s critical that you create a culture conducive to excellent behavior.
Indeed, and of course.
That’s what we do here at SCM. We teach exactly what you need to do to cause students to want to listen, learn, and behave.
Much of this work is done at the beginning of the school year, which includes teaching and modeling your classroom management plan and everyday routines in a certain way.
It includes setting a tone of politeness, respect, and responsibility and the first spark of recognition within every student that says, “This year is going to be different.”
If you’re new to SCM and you’re not sure where to begin, the The Total Classroom Management Makeover and the classroom management plans at right are a good place to start.
However, there is one particular strategy you need if you’re to have your dream class. It’s a strategy that goes all the way back to the scribes of Mesopotamia, yet it’s hardly ever mentioned.
It’s as if it’s still buried under the stony plains of Iraq.
This hidden strategy is both enjoyable for teachers and attention-grabbing for students. It’s also low-hanging fruit; anyone can do it. Yet nothing, nothing, has the same power to draw students into whatever you’re teaching.
So what is it?
Well, before we get there I want to mention that when I use this strategy in the beginning of the school year I like to watch as my least-engaged students—determined by their body language the first few days of school—start to awaken like Frankenstein’s monster.
From a slouched position, their eyes look up as if to say, “Hmm, what’s this?” Their head turns toward me confused for a few beats before they begin to inch their way up in their seat. Not long after that, they’re leaning in.
And I got them. Just like that.
But it’s no surprise. I know it’s going to happen. No one on Earth is immune to this forgotten strategy as long as you’re willing to go far enough. By far, I mean deep. You see, the strategy that almost no one mentions anymore is to teach in great detail.
Forget just touching on the highlights. Forget the broad brush. Forget the lily pads and pickerelweed and go down below the pond’s surface.
To be interesting to your students, to pull them in and never let them go, you have to get into the nitty-gritty. You have to break down your topic, subject, objective, etc. and pull apart the itty bits.
It’s the stuff students love.
How conquistador helmets were made.
Why Marie Curie carried radium in her pocket.
The evidence boy-king Tutankamun was murdered.
There is something cool or weird or scary or fascinating that can be discovered in every lesson if you’re willing to dig for it. This alone, for so many teachers, is the missing piece.
They may do everything else well. But as soon as they step in front of their students to actually teach a lesson, it’s bedtime. Yawn, slump, sigh, and glance around the room for some amusement.
The solution isn’t to try to be more entertaining. It isn’t to plan for hours on a “fun” activity. It isn’t to lecture, beg, bribe, dance the haka, or work harder.
It’s to mine the details they’ve never heard before. It’s to take a topic you’ve been asked to teach and look under the hood. Find at least one thing your students can can grab hold of. It can even be something that at first glance isn’t terribly interesting.
With detail, it becomes interesting.
I’ve had an entire class mesmerized while showing how to hold a pencil or line up for lunch or divide fractions or create an outline for a well-written essay. Doesn’t matter. Details win championships.
At SCM we believe in shifting a heavy load of responsibility onto students. We want them challenged and feeling a sense of purpose when they enter the classroom and every moment throughout the day. There are many and high expectations of them.
But this one is on you.
The quality of your directed lessons are your responsibility. And they need to be good. Your knowledge of content is critical because without it you can’t go deep enough. You must be an expert.
Only then can you bubble down to the bottom where the real treasure awaits.
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