Modelling: A lot of this comes down to modelling: what teachers do will tell children what adults do and how therefore, life works and what they should do; children will watch how teachers treat other children, each other and parents. Mostly they will see interactions between teachers and children and what they learn may stink.
A child may be singled out for scorn, inadvertently; that sets the child up as a target of scorn by other children.
A child might be excluded from an activity in a travesty of discipline: here’s a target for playground exclusion.
A teacher may disregard a child’s earnest complaint about another child: that models the behaviour ‘your concerns aren’t important’ to the child, and ‘the teacher won’t do anything’ to whomever is perpetrating: the seeds of bullying sown in a few distracted moments!
20110628
What Parents want Teachers to Know: 9. Communication #2
Communication #2: The teacher is the power, the authority and the point of reference for children at school. I think teachers know that. So do children, because children come to teachers for assistance, clarification, and by way of learning to develop judgement. So children ending up ‘dobbing’ from time to time, and for a whole range of reasons: to be petty tyrants, to ‘get someone in trouble’ and to defend the rules they comply with, but others don’t. So they simply want to see justice done in a uniform, equitable and disinterested manner.
That’s fair, and what’s wrong with it? Nothing, of course, until teachers apply the apparently random filter of ‘dobbing’. Ah, you find out as a child, some reports of wrong doing are themselves wrong. So now a child, rather than err on the side of caution and provide opportunities for teachers to help them develop judgement, will probably err on the side of self-preservation and reduce their contact with the teacher to below a safe threshold.
Let me see, will I risk telling the teacher on duty that some children are trying to erect a flag on the assembly hall roof, or will that be dobbing, after all, they’re not hurting me?
That’s fair, and what’s wrong with it? Nothing, of course, until teachers apply the apparently random filter of ‘dobbing’. Ah, you find out as a child, some reports of wrong doing are themselves wrong. So now a child, rather than err on the side of caution and provide opportunities for teachers to help them develop judgement, will probably err on the side of self-preservation and reduce their contact with the teacher to below a safe threshold.
Let me see, will I risk telling the teacher on duty that some children are trying to erect a flag on the assembly hall roof, or will that be dobbing, after all, they’re not hurting me?
20110610
What Parents want Teachers to Know: 8. Irony
Irony: How often teachers must forget Piaget’s work (and I know other research has extended his work, but, fair go!), and this might only be a small issue, but if we stamp out sparks we prevent fires: one teacher announced to the class, on about day one of the year: a class of 6 and 7 years olds, that he was ‘the meanie’. Well, tell that to a bunch of adults and they’d either detect the irony (if there was any), ignore it, plot their counter-attacks, or refuse to shout beers that afternoon. Tell a bunch of infants school children, and they’ll believe it!
So we had to explain to our child that ‘he probably didn’t mean it’, but that did not convince and we had to re-coax interest in school which had, until then, been exuberant. Of course, the educational process has elements that dull down exuberance (some of them are listed here), but that’s incentive to turn them around, not give in!
So we had to explain to our child that ‘he probably didn’t mean it’, but that did not convince and we had to re-coax interest in school which had, until then, been exuberant. Of course, the educational process has elements that dull down exuberance (some of them are listed here), but that’s incentive to turn them around, not give in!
20110528
What Parents want Teachers to Know: 7. Defence
Defence: Do not fight. Its one of the big rules at school. However, this rule can’t stand alone, it has to be part of a coordinated set of responses to aggression. And, as aggression is a frame of mind, its overt manifestation in violence is the end of the road, not the beginning!
If children can’t seek help when being made uncomfortable in the classroom, or when lining up, or when playing, when can they? I’ve had experiences of my child being actively prohibited from raising the alarm and then thinking he was ‘in trouble’ for attempting to report another child’s aggression against him during class!
Should I train my child to forget the rules and retaliate? My own experience says…well, yes. As a child I was victimised by a larger boy who didn’t seem to understand ‘no’. There was no culture of dealing with bullying in the 1960’s so it was a tough time. However, I found that one vigorous knock on the konk with my recorder did wonders: (a) it broke the recorder so I didn’t have to play it for a while, and (b) I experienced absolutely no aggression from anyone at all for the rest of my primary school life! All I can say is, if teachers don’t get involved, a child is left with retaliation; and while it can work, it is dangerous and its results can be patchy.
If children can’t seek help when being made uncomfortable in the classroom, or when lining up, or when playing, when can they? I’ve had experiences of my child being actively prohibited from raising the alarm and then thinking he was ‘in trouble’ for attempting to report another child’s aggression against him during class!
Should I train my child to forget the rules and retaliate? My own experience says…well, yes. As a child I was victimised by a larger boy who didn’t seem to understand ‘no’. There was no culture of dealing with bullying in the 1960’s so it was a tough time. However, I found that one vigorous knock on the konk with my recorder did wonders: (a) it broke the recorder so I didn’t have to play it for a while, and (b) I experienced absolutely no aggression from anyone at all for the rest of my primary school life! All I can say is, if teachers don’t get involved, a child is left with retaliation; and while it can work, it is dangerous and its results can be patchy.
20110510
What Parents want Teachers to Know: 6. Instructions
Instructions: Children by and large seek to do the right thing. I say this as having observed many children, from many different backgrounds working as a volunteer in community child services organisations (hands on stuff, not mucking about with the printers in the office). So when I hear of a child penalised peremptorily for apparently not following instructions, I bristle.
Listen, teacher (to quote Pink Floyd), if there’s miscommunication, it is the sender’s fault, not the recipients. That’s a basic rule of any communication. If your message hasn’t gotten through that illustrations on blue paper won’t be part of the Christmas display, and you don’t guide a child to the right paper (given the waves of excitement that might be distracting, the noise that’s prevented understanding, or the long queue for the red and green paper piles)—and why do you have the wrong colour paper available anyway—you’ve muddled your message.
To then let the child do their work on the wrong colour paper and announce their exclusion after the fact, you’ve modelled a strong message that ‘we’re here to trip up, not to help’. Wait for that to play out in real life!
Listen, teacher (to quote Pink Floyd), if there’s miscommunication, it is the sender’s fault, not the recipients. That’s a basic rule of any communication. If your message hasn’t gotten through that illustrations on blue paper won’t be part of the Christmas display, and you don’t guide a child to the right paper (given the waves of excitement that might be distracting, the noise that’s prevented understanding, or the long queue for the red and green paper piles)—and why do you have the wrong colour paper available anyway—you’ve muddled your message.
To then let the child do their work on the wrong colour paper and announce their exclusion after the fact, you’ve modelled a strong message that ‘we’re here to trip up, not to help’. Wait for that to play out in real life!
20110428
What Parents want Teachers to Know: 5. Co-operation
Cooperation: Schools seem bent on fostering a crazy level of independence, when at the office I’m working hard to build cooperative teams where people work with each others’ strengths, assist each other to overcome individual deficiencies, and together advance a common cause.
If you cooperate like this in the class room, schools apply their technical term and say it’s ‘cheating’. But John Sweller (UNSW education researcher) tells us that people learn by seeing things done properly and then, with gradually reduced supports, practicing it themselves. If the teacher is not giving the appropriate support, then, heck, why not seek it from classmates?
If nothing else, this is an indicator that the educational process has let a child down: teacher’s problem, not child’s.
If you cooperate like this in the class room, schools apply their technical term and say it’s ‘cheating’. But John Sweller (UNSW education researcher) tells us that people learn by seeing things done properly and then, with gradually reduced supports, practicing it themselves. If the teacher is not giving the appropriate support, then, heck, why not seek it from classmates?
If nothing else, this is an indicator that the educational process has let a child down: teacher’s problem, not child’s.
20110410
What Parents want Teachers to Know: 4. Stickers
Stickers: I don’t know who invented stickers, but they had an inside running on what delights children. More strength to them on that front, I say. It gotten out of hand at school though! Stickers for this, stickers for that, badges, stars, stamps, you name it, there’s a reward for everything (and don’t make me repeat my disdain for food rewards: treating children like circus animals). Occasional recognition of achievement might be in order: but for things that are worth rewarding, and through which the child will learn that some things are really special and meaningful. The others are cheap shots that avoid the intellectual effort of designing programs to foster internal satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
Oddly, (some) teachers spend so much time on extrinsic rewards they undo children’s internal growth. Research indicates that if people are rewarded for doing things that they actually enjoy, or gain satisfaction from, they are DE-motivated. Imagine if his art pals gave Rembrandt a stamp on his hand, a sticker for his workbook and a star to wear on his smock because the Portrait of an Old Man was really cool! I’m sure he’d toss his brushes on the floor and walk away in disgust at the diminution of the satisfaction he’d had in his achievement.
The better rewards? Class room privileges: roles (properly rotated) in helping in the classroom, and participation in class meetings (oops, I don’t think children get to participate in their class planning…another anti-lesson in cooperation, responsibility, planning and achievement)
Oddly, (some) teachers spend so much time on extrinsic rewards they undo children’s internal growth. Research indicates that if people are rewarded for doing things that they actually enjoy, or gain satisfaction from, they are DE-motivated. Imagine if his art pals gave Rembrandt a stamp on his hand, a sticker for his workbook and a star to wear on his smock because the Portrait of an Old Man was really cool! I’m sure he’d toss his brushes on the floor and walk away in disgust at the diminution of the satisfaction he’d had in his achievement.
The better rewards? Class room privileges: roles (properly rotated) in helping in the classroom, and participation in class meetings (oops, I don’t think children get to participate in their class planning…another anti-lesson in cooperation, responsibility, planning and achievement)
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