I don’t say, “Please,” anymore. Or not as much anyway. This school year has proven to be the most challenging for me in nineteen years, and one of the reasons is a handful of defiant, confrontational students. After sleepless nights and tears at the end of the day, I knew I would have to change some of my behaviors to encourage change in my students’ behavior. So I began reading, and one article I read at Intervention Central forced me to analyze how I speak to students when I assign them a task:
Commands have less impact when stated as questions or requests, because the student may believe that he or she has the option to decline.
Instead of asking, “Will you please stop tapping on your desk?” I choose to give a command (with a thank you), “Stop tapping. Thank you.” This seemingly trivial change has helped me establish myself as the person in control of the classroom, allowing me to teach and students to learn.
Looking for more ideas for managing difficult students or managing your classroom? I’ve found Scholastic’s Managing your Classroom and Intervention Central’s Behavioral Interventions helpful.
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