Golden rule for effective classroom management.

According to Augusto Cury in his book Pais brilhantes, professores fascinantes, more than 90% of the times teachers reprimand disruptive behavior in the classroom, they are, as a matter of fact, not educating but invading their students’ privacy. Why they do so? Because they aim at solving the situation rationally while they should be first interested in finding out which feelings or emotions are triggering that specific disruptive behavior. The attention must be drawn to the student and not to the behavior, so that the student can feel that we worry about them and as result, listen to our advice. If this connection is not stablished and the student feels that the teacher is only concerned about his attitude, he will not listen to what the teacher is advising and will keep on having the same behavior. We should always remember that education is best taught by role modeling and to serve as role models for our students we must be admired by them in some way. Giving long speeches about  the desired behaviors for our classrooms will be pointless if we are not emotionally connected  to them. It is easy to see why emotion is so crucial to making good decisions and thinking clearly. Emotions can disrupt thinking and learning. When we are happy we have a "clear mind" but when we are upset we can't "think straight". Positive emotions such as joy, contentment, acceptance, trust and satisfaction can enhance education. Conversely, prolonged emotional distress can cripple our ability to understand things. We all know how hard it is to learn or remember something when we are anxious, angry or depressed. So, next time you think of reprimanding a student, think carefully about the way you do it and remember that a nice away to approach this student is speaking to him privately and asking if everything is ok and what you could do to help. Acting this way you show that you are confronting the behavior and not the student and for sure you will have won the first round!!