Excellence is no accident!  There is a “teaching personality” that has fewer classroom management problems.

Last year, I asked my seniors at Miami University to recall a teacher that they felt had a particular talent with difficult students. I invited them to describe how the teacher behaved in the classroom, and how they managed the student. Below is an example of one of those case observations. After you have read the case, review my list of research-based personal traits associated with student achievement gains in school.  

The Case

This teacher was one of the most effective classroom managers that I had in high school.  This teacher was always in the room before class, ready to go with a cheerful attitude, which is important at 7:15 in the morning.  She didn’t just jump directly into what the lesson was going to be about that day but talked for a very brief time about things that we, as students, might be interested in or need to know. 

You could tell from the way she conducted this morning briefing that she had very wide interest patterns.  When it was time to get work completed, the teacher was always very prepared for the class, and incorporated individual differences into what we would be doing for that day. For example, we always started off class going over the previous day’s homework. When there was a need for explanation for certain problems she would have students come up to the board and work them out and explain their solutions. This allowed students that were more outgoing to participate in the class, and also opened up the room for discourse between students. Everyone really respected her. 

In times where the class did get loud, there was never anything drastic done, but she was always effective in bringing the class together.  In fact, most of the time students were loud was a result of discussing mathematics, and in times like those, it wasn’t difficult to get the class quieted down. One student in our class was particularly noisy. She simply moved next to him and quietly asked him to lower his voice.  Problem solved. But what was special was that she stopped him after class and thanked him for listening to her. I had never seen that before. 

She loved mathematics and cared about us  and our feelings. When we did presentations on mathematicians we received extra credit if we dressed up like the mathematician that we presented.  We also cooked breakfast in class every Friday morning, which showed that the teacher respected us and cared that we had a good time in her class.  After this reward, it was always easy for her to get engagement out of the students.

Assessment

Remember, classroom teachers have three sources of influence with students and parents:

1. classroom management;
2. instructional design; and 
3. interpersonal behavior.

This list below includes the personal characteristics most related to student achievement gains in school.  There really is a teaching personality that reduces class disruptions and problems!

• Wide Interest Patterns: Discuss personal interests beyond your content area or simply show an interest in what students are experiencing and enjoying.  The pre-instruction and post-instruction contexts are naturals for this conversation. I would visit band practices, football practices, and eat lunch with students in the cafeteria.  Kids just assumed I had an interest because I was there!
• Subject Area Prepared: Your ability to discuss your content area within the lesson with things like background, alternative ways to solve problems and answer student-initiated questions with confidence
• Recognize Individual Differences: Knowing names is the best place to start on this one.  Knowing what your students are interested in, their hobbies, their concerns and how they learn best are great strategies.  Use student names when you ask questions.  If your difficult student likes NASCAR, then talk cars and drivers with them.  If they are a tactile-kinesthetic learner, give them hands-on activities.  Some students are more outgoing than others.  Don’t require the quiet ones to talk and embarrass them. Get to know them.  They will open up because they trust you.
• Explain for Clarity: Explain carefully and slowly your expectations and directions for activities and assignments during openings.  An effective response to student-initiated questions is the best place for this.  Make sure everyone is quiet when you are explaining or answering questions.  This is a moment when students should be listening and you should enforce quiet. provided both verbal and non-verbal cues by changing her position within the room and also telling students what to do next.
• Friendly:  Greeting students as they come into class during the pre-instruction context communicates a lot of friendliness.  Greeting and responding to students in the hallways is a positive. My college students tell me that I am the only professor that has ever greeted them with a handshake on the first day of class. Post-instruction is another good time.
• Fallible: During lessons you are going to make mistakes.  Admit them and invite student’s suggestions on corrections in the lesson.  If you make a mistake in one class, correct it the next day.  I once gave a terrible university lecture on suppression and repression.  I came back the next class period, apologized, did it again and received a standing ovation from the class. 
• Nonpunitive: Punishments should fit the seriousness of the problem and the frequency of the reoccurrence.  Consequences should be what happen as a result of poor choices.  Student-initiated disruptions require appropriate consequences.  Punitive personalities trick students and are unnecessarily mean. 
• Fair: Students notice favoritism immediately and always resent it. A bad test item should be thrown out.  A student discipline error should get an apology. If you say you are going to do something, follow-through on it.  If something will clearly not work, change it.
• Organized and Systematic: You communicate this trait by the way you organize your room, desk, sessions, lessons, grades and expectations. The more organized and systematic you are, the fewer management problems you will have. Session goals and activities should be written on the board.  Students should be reminded of what to bring the next day.  Each activity should have a specific outcome. 
• Imaginative: Even if you are not naturally creative, you can build opportunities for creativity into your lessons. Students always appreciate any opportunity for engaging methods, technology integration or just plain fun! You might display creative student projects in the classroom. They love to watch you learn too!
• Values the Feelings of Students: This trait comes across when individual students are struggling or when you know the entire class is under some kind of pressure. Students are not in control of their homes.  What happens at home can cause students to be worried, pressured or anxious.  If you become on of the teachers that students trust, it will because you show them that you value their feelings. They are kids.
• Enjoys Teaching: This trait is unmistakable.  These teachers are student-centered. They are accessible to students. They take an interest in student activities.  They lift students with their enthusiasm and interests. 
• Confident in Social Settings: This trait is evident when teachers not only show confidence in the classroom, but also show confidence and engagement in extracurricular activities.  I would encourage any new teacher to get involved as a coach or assistant coach with students. With my sixth graders I started and after school sports program.  Once a week, we played whatever sport was in season and some that are now outlawed like “dodge ball.”  Kids would roar into school the next day filled with stories about what they had accomplished in the previous days “after school” game. 

This turned out to be my longest column to date.  But, I wanted you to see the connection between the observations of twenty-one year olds and research findings that has been in place for almost fifty years.  Effective teachers have effective personalities too!  My next column will be on “building trust with students.”

Dr. Douglas Brooks  is a Professor in the School of Education, Health and Society at Miami University. He teaches graduate and online courses in grant writing and consults with school districts to build grant writing capacity.

A SPECIAL INVITATION FOR TEACHERS...

---

LessonPlansPage.com would like to take a moment to let you know about Concordia University's new Master's Degrees in Education that you can complete online in just one year!

Available Master's Degrees in Education include:

• Curriculum & Instruction: Reading
• Curriculum & Instruction: Methods & Curriculum
• Curriculum & Instruction: English to Speakers
  of Other Languages
• Educational Leadership

These programs can help you:

• Open the door to a variety of school leadership career opportunities like higher education teaching, department chair, ELL consultant, literacy coach, or curriculum coordinator
• Complete your degree in one year, on your schedule,
  from the comfort of your home
• A Master’s Degree could mean an automatic salary increase in your school district!

Find Out More!

A national university system with 10 campuses throughout the United States, Concordia was founded more than 100 years ago and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed