The Right Response to Students' Moods? Not Always Easy to Figure

(above photo taken from the article (linked at the bottom of G Dorion’s comments) by Dana Truby at the web site: We Are Teachers)

Conflict was more than a daily occurrence at most schools in which I taught which included 85 Manhattan high schools in my last two years in NYC.

In NYC public schools I had many, many conflicts with students over my 13 years there and, most of the time, it was because they were not doing what I needed them to do. Of course there was always tremendous pressure from above (principals and other administrators) and from above them (district and regional supervisors and others) and often the students were at the final receiving end of all of the ”pressure from above.” I mean so much of education these days happens in a kind of pressure cooker particularly after the “no child left behind” act of the Bush years. A teacher must be especially vigilant these days for all sorts of reasons.

Anyway I came across an article today that addresses the ability or lack thereof of teachers being sensitive to students’ moods which often is not an easy thing. One’s most reliable students can have a bad day and totally surprise you. Unless you were teaching at Stuyvesant High School or Bard Early College High School or another of the city’s elite schools, you would likely not be able to get through a school day without having some sort of conflict with at least one student. Sometimes, it was not even your student but someone else’s who just decided he would barge into your class, unannounced, and go over and start chatting with his friends, acting like he was totally oblivious to the fact that he was interrupting a fairly engaging lesson.

How do you deal with situations like that. It’s very easy to get angry believe me but that is not usually the best reaction.

So this article, I thought, makes a lot of sense. A teacher’s response should be tempered by preparation and training, sensitivity and, perhaps most importantly, knowing how to manage potential conflict so that situations are kept well below a low boiling point.

The article begins: “Look to the grown-ups first! The key to improving student behavior is changing the way teachers and administrators react.”

Here is the link:

http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2014/08/10/breaking-the-conflict-cycle-at-school