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When I was just out of college, one of my first teaching jobs was as an instructor for the SAT. I was placed in front of thirty American students in a large classroom. Most of them wanted to be there and were eager to learn, but there were two boys in the back who spent the hour talking with each other, cracking jokes and generally ignoring all my instructions. I figured that if I paid any attention to them, or scolded them, I would embolden them further, so for the most part I ignored their antics and carried on for the other twenty-eight or so students who were listening and taking notes. At the end of the hour, I congratulated myself on not letting two troublemakers derail my lesson. I also thought that, in not acting as a disciplinarian, I would be more liked as an instructor. The next day, my manager called me to say that she had received a number of complaints from parents the night before. Their kids had said that they were shocked that I never once reprimanded the two disruptive boys. They said that, though I seemed intelligent, I was overly mild-mannered and completely unable to control the classroom. I had imagined I was appearing efficient and unshakable, my demeanor actually just came off as permissive and weak. The parents said that I had failed to create an environment in which their children could learn. A couple months later, I was again teaching an SAT course to two dozen students, and there were three kids in the back who were friendly with one another and chatted almost nonstop throughout the lesson. I would politely ask them to tone it down every so often, to varying degrees of success, but at one point, a reserved student at the front of the room quietly asked if I could repeat a point. I did so, and as he was asking a follow-up question, the three in the back started up again and drowned him out, figuring this question wasn’t relevant to them. Well, interrupting me was one thing, but interrupting a student trying to ask a question made me lose it. “GREG, KATE, AND PETER!! You need to shut it down NOW!!!” They immediately went silent, with defiant looks on their faces, and I was worried that I had lost their rapport for good. But to my surprise, I slowly realised that I had actually earned their grudging respect. Not only did they keep quiet for the rest of the week, they even offered to help the boy in the front with a few other topics he was having trouble with. Thinking back to my first teaching experience, I realised that students actually welcome discipline when it’s for the purpose of creating a more structured and inclusive learning environment. In fact, they crave it. Raising my voice on behalf of a student (rather than just because I was tired/impatient) made those three in the back respect me more as an educator, and not incidentally, made them respect their fellow students more as well. This doesn’t mean I shout all the time now, of course, but I don’t worry as much about whether my students will like me. The important thing is that I am firm when necessary in order to create an environment in which all students can learn. Perhaps not surprisingly, this has made me more confident to begin with, so that I’m able to maintain discipline throughout the course and reduce casual chatter from the start. I can spot early on who my “talkers” are going to be and take care to group them with the quieter students during pair work and group work. If I suspect they might not have been paying attention, I call on them by name and ask them to repeat the instructions to the whole class. When possible, I make sure to acknowledge their extrovert personalities by designating them as team leaders during group activities. I also elicit comments, questions, and opinions from the louder and quieter students alike so that the class feels they’re all in this together. They then start to see that any misbehaviour is disrespectful not just to me, but more importantly, to their peers in the class. I’ve learned that while discipline for discipline’s sake is usually counterproductive, discipline for learning’s sake is something that everyone in the class can get behind.
