I got this from a group member:
Hi Ben,
I felt the need to be accountable to this. Today is one of those tired days where I just want to let myself take it easy. All our juniors are out of the building on a retreat. In my 2nd hour today there were 6 of 17 absent, so we still plugged away at a Cat B tableau but the rules were a little wobbly, meaning my enforcement of them. I think the smaller class size contributed partially to that. I verbally enforced the rules but did not refer back to the rule board. I also let things go (like things on desks). I’m feeling that I’m failing with the rules since I’m still enforcing them several times per class in my classes. Oddly, my 2nd hour, which has been my “best” class so far, has in the last few weeks started blurting things out a lot. This wasn’t the case before that. I was hoping the rules would be more solidified by now, but they aren’t. I’m sure I could’ve done better in enforcing them or setting a tone. Either way, I don’t want to get all loose with CM. I think I need some encouragement.
I responded:
Look there is a part to the classroom management game where you LET them blurt. Where’s the harm if it doesn’t interrupt your instruction? I think you are taking things too literally. There is kind of CM that is too strict. You may be doing that, which has the deleterious effect of turning the kids against you.
I am an artist at knowing what to let go and what to stop. It comes with experience.
I am including below the entire five point CM plan from the Invisibles and some other thoughts on CM that you may or may not have read.
Positive Classroom Management
The goal is to use how we assess to build a positive response in class from our students, to build them up for trying and not necessarily for achieving. What things can we do? We can ask for little rounds of applause for kids who are trying to listen well, just stopping class when we see the kids honoring the Classroom Rules and saying “Applaudissez, classe! Arnold is listening so well right now that I wanted to stop class just to say that, because that means that he paid attention in the first week when I stopped you guys all those times and pointed at rule #2, right? And you thought this class was weird bc you didn’t have to memorize stuff, and just give me your full attention and follow those rules over there and Arnold is doing that right now so congratulations Arnold you’re doing it right and it will show up as 65% of your grade at the next marking term so keep doing it! It’s how people learn languages! In fact, I’m going to my desk right now to write myself a note to email your parents after class to tell them how well you pay attention in class! It’s not easy to do this kind of thing if you’ve never had a class like this before. Everybody needs to know that you think you are looking at me but I am looking at you too and you are being graded right now when I am talking in French! We’ve looked at the rubric together already so where would you put yourself on this rubric right now? Get in groups of two and talk about that. Do you see how your effort determines your grade in this class, and not how you do on some test? We don’t memorize in this class and we don’t have big tests. And any big tests we have, we just do what we do on that Star every day, so if you pay attention you will get the grade you want. And Arnold I have noticed that you are really listening and trying to understand and that is done silently, right? Because you’re not ready to speak yet, right? And that silence and focus is the sound of your grade going up! Oh and don’t just start staring at me, because I can tell if you are trying to understand me in class. When you stare it’s a different look in your eyes and plus when you fail the quizzes, that tells me what is really going on because they are so easy if you just listen. (Ed. note: formative grades in the first month of the year are only quick quizzes, which are essential to give, if you can, on a daily basis, along w rating your students on the rubric every day to effectively train ALL the students in your classroom. The other formative grades like free writes, FCR, dictées, will start to populate the grade book later.) I’ll know that I was right about how much you were understanding with the quizzes. The quizzes and the interpersonal skills rubric work together, as you can see. Don’t worry! It’s my job to make myself understood so the quizzes are easy and I will do that I promise (ed. note: via WBYT). And since I am grading you daily here at the beginning of the year, you better know that if I see a cell phone out, I won’t say anything but I will go over to my desk and write down a 0 on your daily IPS grade and those add up, since it’s 65% of the grade! So, if you see me making notes on my desk during class it’s either to remind myself to call a parent about good interpersonal skills or the phone problem. Yes, you may have heard that I call parents during class, but not very often. So, there are about four people right now who are failing the class due to phones but I won’t talk about it. We’ll talk later when the first grades come out. I know it’s weird being graded like this, on how you listen in class instead of on memorizing something for a test, but that’s how I’m supposed to do it, so we’ll see if any grades go up now. Let me show you what I mean”. (Walk over to an empty desk and model the behavior physically that you want to see.) Congratulate Arnold again and get back into class. Of course, you wouldn’t say all of those things, just one or two each time you stop to congratulate the kid and ask for a round of applause on their behalf, but that is the gist of a form of classroom management that really works. Once we realize that the best way to improve our students’ behavior is not by “managing” their behavior at all, but by complimenting them, we will have the kind of classroom environment we want.
To review the above:
…little rounds of applause….
…stopping class when we see the kids honoring the Classroom Rules….
…spot emails to parents ….
…you think you are looking at me but I am looking at you too….
…you are being graded right now ….
…the silence when I am speaking is the sound of your grade going up….
…it’s my job to make myself understood and I will do that….
…the quizzes and the interpersonal skills rubric work together….
…phone out in class? – I won’t say anything but at it’s a 0 on your daily interpersonal grade….
…if you see me making notes on my desk during class it’s to remind myself to call a parent about good listening skills or the phone problem. Yes, I do call parents during class….
Plans A-E
We will now take a look at the management plan of my invention that first appeared in my Year One/ A Natural Approach to the Year/ ANATTY book (2017). It is included here because it works.
Plan A:
Plan A has been my basic classroom management strategy for over two decades. It shows my class that I will respond – I will act – each and every time a student breaks one of my classroom rules.
The Classroom Rules poster does my talking for me. I notice each and every infraction of the rules, and then in a dispassionate way I immediately stop all instruction and use the Walk Before You Talk technique to slowly and silently walk over to the Rules poster, and without speaking, point to the rule that was broken.
The Classroom Rules have been discussed in Supplement 4. They are prominently displayed in a place where I can easily walk over to them, put my hand on them and simply wait, without speaking, until the class complies with the rule.
The rule that I point to most frequently in the first few weeks is Rule #2 – “One person speaks and the others listen”. While pointing to it, I simply indicate with my body language that I expect my students to correct their behavior.
We wait until we get compliance. Waiting out those uncomfortable 30 seconds may not be pleasant but it will bring us calm focused listening later in the year. Even the child whom we schooled will on some level thank us for finally teaching them how to behave in school. It can’t be fun to be a bully.
This is a very critical juncture in your year. You do not want there to be any entertainment value in breaking the rules. In fact, you want your response to be so automatic that it is identical each time you use it. Even if you are pointing to the rules for the twentieth or even thirtieth time that day, you want to execute the same calm walk, the same calm wait, the same sequence of gestures that you did on your first trip over to the rules.
We thus make listening to the actual instruction more entertaining than breaking the rules. And since our instruction is all about the kids and their ideas, why shouldn’t our instruction win?
Establishing the rules in this way builds your personal power in the classroom. It establishes you as the one in charge of the classroom. This energy is ancient, even present in troops of chimpanzees.
We avoid revealing your internal emotions when we do this. When we simply stroll over to the rules in a calm way, pointing them out to the class and then waiting for compliance, we build and maintain our power in the group.
The main objective in the first couple of weeks is to use very simple, engaging, personalized activities like Card Talk, and above all SLOW and thus easily understood speech, to train the students in the Classroom Rules.
You will know that you are doing this right when you students resort to policing each other when they see you saunter over to the Classroom Rules poster.
You will know that you have built the proper atmosphere in your class when you sense that:
1. your instruction has become slow and effortless,
2. your speech is calm and unhurried, as if you have all the time in the world to speak to your class,
3. your class waits silently and patiently as you frequently clarify your message by writing or walking to a word or visual aid,
4. your students demonstrate the desire to wait with you in the few seconds of calm silence that you lovingly insist on after each transgression.
Such an atmosphere is crucial for authentic communication in the language to thrive in your classroom.
Plan B:
When we have students who reveal themselves as needing some personalized attention to come into alignment with our expectations, and we have found ourselves pointing at the rules several times but the child hasn’t changed, this is when we use Plan B.
In Plan B we move physically to the student who is at ground zero of the disruptions. Dr. Fred Jones, the great classroom management trainer, and the author of the must-read book on classroom management, Tools for Teaching, calls this the Queen Victoria Stare.
He suggests a specific sequence of movements and actions that use our body language and physical presence to establish our leadership and set firm limits with our students, without spiraling into those “But I wasn’t doing anything!” or “You’re picking on me!” arguments that end up with someone (usually the teacher) losing face.
Please note that Plan B is for correcting the behavior of students who exhibit minor misdeeds. It is not designed for students exhibiting obviously improper behavior. These suggestions are provided for dealing with commonly overlooked (except in your classroom) behaviors such as side conversations, using a cell phone, talking back to the teacher, interrupting, calling out, laughing at inappropriate times, making weird random noises, tapping pencils or coins, excessive pencil sharpening, etc.
Fred Jones says, “Open your mouth and slit your throat.” This means that when dealing with behavior management, your talking is the enemy.
We do not want to talk to the student about their behavior; we want the behavior to change. Hallway conversations with offending students are ineffective here in Plan B. We will use them later at deeper levels of intervention in this plan.
Stop instructing just as you did in Plan A. At this point, everyone expects you to go to the Rules poster.
However, you will instead turn your feet to face the student who continues to disrupt. You will plant your feet both facing in the direction of the student. Remain silent.
Plant your feet, then turn your entire body in the direction of the offender, in silence. Keep your arms down; do not point at the student. Do not say anything. Do not call their name. Do not say, “Shhh.” Say nothing.
Simply turn your entire torso and shoulders in the direction that your feet are facing, so that it is abundantly clear that you are stopping instruction to address the distraction. If the student does not notice that your attention is directed at them, because they are so distracted, enjoying themselves, simply wait silently until they notice.
Remember, opening your mouth is your last resort. You do not invite conversation. You want to see a different behavior, not have a talk with the student. There is no need to discuss any of this with a fifteen- year-old.
If you cave and allow the student to engage you in a verbal interchange in this moment, you may as well do a silly walk out of the classroom because you will have lost your entire class for the rest of the year.
Everyone knows the rules by now. You have pointed to them perhaps hundreds of times in the few days of school that have elapsed so far. Now simply wait until the disruptive student notices the energy directed at them. They will notice.
95% of classroom management is energetic and happens in the realm of body language and nonverbal communication, anyway. They will sense that you and the class are focused on them. They will eventually look up.
Once they have noticed you and are looking at you, take a few slow steps in the direction of the disruptive student. Do not get very close, though. And do not assume a combative posture. Keep your arms at your sides, not on your hips or crossed in front of you. Think to yourself, “I am fortunate that I have the tools to exert calm leadership, and I have worked too hard to get to this position professionally to let some rude child ruin it for everyone.” And mean it when you think it.
Do not say a word. Simply make it clear that you are looking at them, so that they – and their peers – know without a doubt that you are dealing with them. Stare at them with a patient, withering, “Been there, done that!” stare. Do not say a word.
If the student says something, perhaps, “What?” or “What’d I do?” then simply respond with what Fred Jones calls a look of boredom. It is not very productive for a student to argue with someone who is just staring at them silently, with a calm look of “I have seen this all before…” on their face and no desire to win at anything but compliance with the rules.
Once the student is listening, or has put the cell phone away, or has turned to face you, or has done whatever you need them to do to comply with your expectations, simply take a deep breath and resume instruction as if nothing had happened.
Note that Plan B is only the next step in a series of increasingly-pointed interventions.
When the class in general continues breaking the rules, continue using Plan A. But when a particular student continues on breaking the rules, do not use Plan B more than a couple times on that child. Instead, move to Plans C and D.
(You will use Plan A all year, every day. It is the default setting. It is your cruise control until June. If other students test your limits, execute Plan B on them a couple of times and then move swiftly on to Plan C.
Plan C:
If you have a student whom you have already stared at using your best Queen Victoria Stare a couple of times but who seems to always go right back to their old behaviors, you will need to move on to Plan C with that child.?
In this level of intervention you actually get in the face of the student. It happens this way. You are teaching class. You notice a disruption. Simply turn and face the student, with your feet, then your torso, then your whole body. You take another deep breath, summoning your Withering Stare, aka the Queen Victoria Stare. Walk over to the student, calmly, without saying a word. Stand by their desk, silently.
I think of these moments as THE MOST CRITICAL MOMENTS OF MY TEACHING CAREER. Why have learned the language? Why have worked so hard for certification, education credits, all that rigamarole? Why get up each morning for years to do thankless and underpaid labor? Why wake up at night – as we all do at some point – worrying about our jobs? Why read books like this to try to get better at what we do? Why plan out our classes IF WE CAN’T EVEN STOP A STUDENT WHOSE INTENT IS TO UNDERMINE ALL THAT WE HAVE DONE TO GET TO WHERE WE ARE? Keep that thought in mind if you ever get to the level of Plan C and don’t have the courage to follow through with the precise response plan described herein to kids who are very good and experienced at and take pride in consciously disrupting and sometimes ruining teachers’ careers?
If the student is so brazen here in Plan C to continue giving you backtalk, for example, “What’d I do?” simply respond with a stony silence, waiting with a calm, non-confrontational posture, as Fred Jones recommends, until they are all talked out.
In my view, doing this has a shifting effect, where the class gets so tired of the clearly outrageous behavior of the child, that they begin as a group to side with you. Before that, being children, they tend to side with the offender.
Here’s the kicker. Next, get down on one knee by the student. This conveys a powerful message to them: “We are on the same team. I am strong enough to lower myself to you, in service to you and our class. I have the self-confidence to not use my status as teacher over you. I do not need to assume a confrontational stance with you. My power comes from within, not from confronting you in public in front of your peers.”
After you have knelt by them, quietly say to them, “This happened before, and it is happening again now. And if it happens again, we will have a longer conversation, and we won’t be smiling at the end.” And – this is key – smile at the student (even though it may be sort of a forced smile). Nine times out of ten, they will smile back. It is human nature to smile when smiled at. ?
Notice that in this short conversation, you do not name the behavior. This is purposeful. Naming the behavior invites arguing. You do not want arguing. It is clear to all involved that the student has broken the rules. It is also clear to all involved that you have consistently and fairly applied Plan A to everyone every time a rule was broken. Thus, you are clearly not “picking on” anyone, or playing favorites.
The student knows what they did wrong. There is no need to have a long conversation about it. It is best to follow up this conversation with a phone call home. Perhaps but probably not, the student has a family that can support them in processing the issues, which will certainly make your job easier.
Plan D:
Plan D is enacted when, earlier in the period, or perhaps yesterday or a couple of days ago, you took the time in class to slowly and calmly speak to that student individually as per Plan C. Now the behavior is still continuing.
Get down beside them again but this time ask them to step into the hall – we only enact this at this deep level of the plans. Tell the student that you will speak with them later in private. Then stand up, take a few steps away from the student, and calmly resume instruction. Do not make a big production of waiting for the student to get up and exit the room.
Act as if you have every confidence that the student will comply with your request of their own accord. Remember, in all discipline, the goal is to de-escalate and remove attention from the situation in the heat of the moment.?
There is a small chance that the student will not comply. In that case, go back over to the student again after a few minutes and simply repeat the same sequence of steps that you did the first time you spoke to them.
Remain calm and non-confrontational, and keep the interaction quiet and private, from your kneeling position by the student’s seat. Remember that the class is watching you. This interaction is not just about your relationship with this student but your position as leader for the entire class.
So just remain calm and say to the student, “I asked you to wait in the hall. We can have a quick conversation in the hall during class right now, or we can have a more complicated situation. It is your choice. I will keep teaching and wait to see what choice you make when I get up from your seat here.”
Then signal calmly to anyone in your classroom who is bigger and more intimidating and clearly in support of you to come help the student to the hall. You have ideally chosen a supportive, calm, and kind student for this job, and they can help coerce their peer into coming to the hall with them. Football players are good for this.
Calmly continue teaching, walking away from the student. After a minute, look back in a calm, nonchalant way, to see if the student has indeed chosen to go to the hall. If the student has not done so, you call administration. If they cannot or will not come support you, you really have no choice but to continue teaching.
When you reach this point – if the student did not leave – you have two options.
(1) At the end of the period, hold the student back so that you can follow up with them in private.
(2) Tell the class to turn and talk about something, perhaps simply saying, “Turn and tell a partner what we have learned so far about X” where X is whatever you have been talking about. Then as the class talks, follow up with the student. No matter what, at this juncture you will want to get in touch with administration, counseling, their coach, if they have one, and the student’s family.
Most students, however, will not put up any resistance and will go on to the hall either of their own accord or with the assistance of the Concierge.
When you have a private conversation with the student, use your body language to de-escalate and support a productive conversation that truly leads to change. So, stand shoulder to shoulder with the student, not facing them in a confrontational posture. Mirror their body language. Lean on the wall if they are leaning on the wall, sit if they are sitting. Humans respond more positively to others who mirror their body language back to them.
Do not want to make eye contact with the student during this conversation. Look off into the distance, in the direction that the student is looking. You will now ask a memorized sequence of questions. This takes off a great deal of pressure, as you now simply need to focus on remaining calm, using a non-confrontational posture and a calm tone, breathing, modeling calm energy for the student to respond to while asking them a series of memorized reflection questions.
Here they are – don’t forget to memorize them:
1. “What was happening?”
If the student says “I don’t know” then simply ask again. Do not state the behavior. They need to state it. In that way they can own it, and describe it from their perspective. If they say something snarky like, “I was just asking what you were saying!” that is OK, just proceed once they have acknowledged the behavior.
Then say, “Thank you.” Truly mean it. This student is helping you, and is complying with your wishes even though they probably do not feel like it. This is big internal work for the child and big internal work for you.
In fact, nothing is more important to your career than this. Inwardly acknowledge yourself and the child for getting to this point, which most teachers don’t have the courage to get to and would rather take the easy way out and blame the child. This is healing work.
Once the child accepts you as the leader, and sees that you have established your leadership without yelling at them or insulting them, you have made a friend whose entire life will benefit from the extreme unpleasantness that led up to the level of Plan D.
Remember to not restate, put into “teacher language”, elaborate or add on or correct their response. Simply accept it, thank them, and move on.
If a student refuses to answer this first question, say, “I will come back in a few minutes to see if you have an answer to this question.” Return to the room, leaving the child outside in the hall to reflect. Take deep breaths and remain as calm as always. Do not feed the student any nervous or anxious or angry energy. You want to simply exude calm, assertive, get-it-done energy.
If they refuse to talk to you the second time you return, repeat that you will be back. If the third time you attempt to engage with the student, they still stonewall you, then you know that there is a much bigger problem at play here than just language class. Leave them in the hall and follow up later, with administration and counselors and family involvement, if possible.
The majority of students, however, will answer our question the first time and we can simply move on to ask the second question in our sequence:
Question 2 of Plan D:
2. “How is that a problem for the class?”
Again, do not give up or accept a non-answer, but do thank them for their response. Do not add on – simply allow them to be correct in whatever they say, as long as it is an honest answer to the question.
Next we ask Question 3 in the sequence:
3. “How is that a problem for me as your teacher?”
You will repeat the same type of interaction as in the first two questions.?
Finally, we move on to Question 4, the last one:
4. “How is this going to be a problem for you if it does not stop?”?
At this point the student will generally name the consequence they fear most. Generally, the students identify their potential problems as your calling parents, giving them detentions, or office referrals. If they say, in response to this question, that you will probably talk in the hall some more, tell them that this is the last time you will talk in the hall and inform them of a more appropriate consequence.
This simple questioning sequence is worth studying and memorizing. Having all the steps ready to deploy is extremely soothing for your mental health and boosts your confidence. You could even write them down on a piece of paper and refer to it while going through the details of each plan. It is important that you not have to make those decisions when you are in your reptilian brain, and in fight or flight mode.
You will be glad that you have a memorized script to deploy in a mechanical fashion, taking the guesswork and nervousness out of an already-charged situation, having to confront students and correct their behavior.
Plan E:
By the time a student has pushed our classroom management to Plan E, it is time to reach out to principals and counselors. Many teachers reach out to the office when they should be doing Plans A through D. This does not stand well with administrators, who in some buildings evaluate teachers not in terms of their instructional capacities, but simply by how many times students are sent to the office.
Working through these steps with your students maintains your leadership, builds relationships, and allows you to use these challenging behaviors as an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with your students. It’s real teaching – teaching of the whole child.
Plan E, getting outside help, is for those rare students who truly need more support than you can give in a classroom setting. Those plans are for students who have not responded to your very tight management plan. If you faithfully implement Plans A, B, C, and D, you will be able to winnow out the students who do not respond to calm, assertive leadership, and you will thus be left with the students who need intense adult support.
You might very well have unearthed those students who are living with so much pain that they need more services than they are getting in school. Thus, your management can be a service to your community. It helps the school system identify those students who simply cannot, because of the struggle that their lives are, be part of a community with a calm, centered leader.
If your student-centered curriculum, your success-for-all grading policy and your strong classroom management system do not support a student in being a successful, positive member of the class, then you have most likely identified a student who has substantial social-emotional needs. You cannot help them.
If your classroom-level interventions do not result in a change in the student’s behavior, you will need to seek assistance from family, administration, counselors, coaches, other teachers, or all of the above. The fortunate thing is that with Plans A through D, you will create a classroom environment wherein only a very few troubled students will need the Plan E level of time-consuming intervention.