Pat and I have a quiet tug-o-war between management and teaching. Although both of us recognize the importance of having both classroom management and instructional skills, she contends that the management skills are required. Pollyanna-ishly, I maintain that if one’s instructional management is strong, one will not need behavior management competence.
Too be sure, my view is idealist. That’s reinforced (ahem) by an article entitled “Schools Beef Up Classroom-Management Training” from by Vaishali Honawar of Education Week. Ms. Honowar provides the following lead:
Faced with concerns that too many teachers are entering the profession unprepared to manage classrooms, some colleges of education have in recent years increased their focus on training aspiring educators to handle disruptive students.
New teachers, even if skilled in academic subjects and pedagogy, often find themselves grossly unprepared to deal with student misbehavior. Discipline issues are one of the primary reasons given for teacher attrition. In fact, a 2003 study by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a Washington-based advocacy group, found that more than 25 percent of teachers who left the profession cited student discipline.
Given that I teach a behavior management class for my school’s teacher education program, I should be encouraged. I’ll still promote the idea that the first behavior management bulwark is powerful instruction, but I know I’ll have to teach them how to deal with problems, too. Here’s hoping I the evidence-based procedures I pitch to them will register…and stick.
Link to Ms. Honowar’s article.
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