Too often I hear from teachers who are afraid of being the bad guy in the classroom. We all want to be liked by our students, and we think that if we discipline our students, they won’t like us.
Actually, it’s exactly opposite! All too often, teachers who act afraid to upset their students end up creating class environments that are unruly, uncontrollable, and not conducive to learning. Our students really do want to learn. They want to feel safe. A classroom out of control doesn’t learn well and often isn’t safe.
I tell my students at the beginning of the year that my classroom is not a democracy. Majority vote does not rule the class.
I rule the class.
I am the benevolent dictator. After a brief explanation of what that means, I remind them that it is my job to educate them. Occasionally I will ask them to do things they won’t want to do. I won’t reason with them. I’ll give them directions, ask for questions, and then expect them to follow my directions. Every time.
And, of course, I have consequences established for those times when a student fails to follow directions- more on this in later posts.
For the most part, though, especially if I’ve done a solid job of selling my lessons, the students understand that when I “ask” the students to do something, I’m really simply telling them nicely.
When a student asks you why he or she has to do something you’ve “asked” them to do, just tell them…
“Because I said so.”
And that should be enough.
Darren