There are rare times when you do need to send a student to the principal. But only for the following reasons:
- Violence
- Threats of violence
- Weapons
- Drugs
- Fighting
- Continued or severe bullying
In other words, anything dangerous.
The reason is to protect yourself legally, protect your class physically, and officially document the behavior.
Beyond this, however, sending students to the office is a mistake.
Here’s why:
It weakens your authority.
Appealing to someone outside of your classroom to address behavior issues—which can also include a counselor or vice-principal—communicates loud and clear that the buck doesn’t stop with you.
It all but screams to that student and the rest of your class that you can’t handle them and therefore must call upon a real authority figure.
The result is an increase in all-class misbehavior. It also empowers your most challenging students to become more brazen and aggressively disruptive. In fact, it’s the fastest way to lose control.
It increases disrespect.
Any show of weakness in leadership, including inconsistency, bribery, and fear of giving consequences, is always followed by less respect for you.
Students will laugh and joke while you’re teaching. They’ll talk over you. They’ll ignore you. They’ll use bad language in your presence, call you bro or dude, and view you as a hanger-on friend they don’t particularly like rather than the head of the classroom.
They’ll push and push until you find yourself stressed-out, giving in, and walking on eggshells just to survive.
It tells your principal that you can’t manage your classroom.
Despite what some principals will say aloud at staff meetings, if you need their help with managing behavior, it raises a giant red flag in their mind.
It tells them they need to be concerned about you, keep an eye on you, and consider you for an improvement plan. Make no mistake, when you announce that your classroom management is poor, there will be a response.
It’s one sure way to get on their bad side. If you feel as if you’re perpetually in the dog house, this is why. The only way out is to prove you can be trusted with behavior management.
It crushes your confidence.
Besides the increase in misbehavior, which can also have an effect on your confidence, the knowledge that you didn’t handle a tough situation or particularly difficult student on your own will stay with you.
It will make you question whether you’re up to the job. It will increase your stress and fear of your students. It will hand any leverage you had over to them, which is the worse place to be as a teacher.
You’ll be left trying to convince, bribe, beg, and talk your class into behaving. In other words, you’ll be relying on methods that in this day and age will never work.
The Solution
The solution is simple and doable for any teacher no matter where you work, your grade level, or who is on your roster.
Become an expert in classroom management.
Effective classroom management isn’t magic. It isn’t trickery or manipulation. And it isn’t saved for the lucky few with the right personality or physical traits. It’s knowledge-based and predictable.
By learning the SCM approach, you’ll never need outside help with any student or any class.
I realize that for many teachers this sounds like a fantasy. It’s not. It’s the daily reality for tens of thousands of SCM teachers.
My advice is to start with one of our classroom management plan guides (at right) and then delve into one or more of books. Increase your understanding day by day. Build skill upon skill.
And you’ll be able to walk into any classroom in the world and transform it into your dream class.
PS – If teaching has become stressful for you, check out my new book Unstressed: How to Teach Without Worry, Fear, and Anxiety.
Also, if you haven’t done so already, please join us. It’s free! Click here and begin receiving classroom management articles like this one in your email box every week.
