14. Taking things personally

I heard a lot of stories from parents depicting how their children’s learning and relationship with their teachers changed dramatically after those parent-teacher conferences. During such meetings, the parents were trying to clarify issues that relate to their children’s learning but the teachers got annoyed and decided to take a stand against them.

So, they ignored their children and treated them badly in the classroom.

Now, I can relate to that. I understand why some of my friends did not accept my advice to meet their children’s teachers to talk over those learning issues that annoyed them. Because they were afraid they would misunderstand their intent.

The truth is, the world of teaching is full of troubles: with students, parents, colleagues, administration… We may hear words and see reactions we’ve never expected though we stay respectful and professional. Yet, we should not take things personally.

The social context at work is essential because each individual is supposed to contribute to the teaching-learning process. So, we can’t lead that journey alone and pretend we can do things well without getting help from the rest of the crew.

We belong to the same community and our students’ learning and growth are the responsibility of everyone including the student himself.

We may encounter bumps and get frustrated because these come from the people who are expected to stand behind us.

But, we should face it up instead of taking things personally.

So, whatever reactions, or words you get from parents, students, or anyone else at work, never take things personally. Because this does not only destroy your relationships with them but it also affects your productivity and wellbeing.

Instead of building a positive learning community in your school, you’ll drain your energy, overthinking and struggling to defeat THEM.

Because our social development matters to our growth as teachers we need to care a lot about it.

15. Yelling at students

There is nothing more precious for teachers than their energy. It’s the source of their productivity and well-being. But, we all know that teaching is demanding, overwhelming, and thus energy-consuming.

It does not only require physical efforts but also mental ones, as it involves making a variety of decisions that concern students’ learning (assessing, assigning roles, providing feedback, monitoring, etc.)

However, although preserving our energy for such efforts is pertinent to our well-being and students’ learning, certain attitudes can sap it and wreck our relationships with them.

Yelling at students is a common classroom management mistake teachers make. It is regarded as a solution to maintain order in the classroom and show their ability to hold control of whatever classroom situation they face.

However, research has shown that teachers yelling can provoke harmful emotions of guilt, anguish, shame, and inferiority in students. This aggressive behaviour can cause the problem to escalate since teachers’ emotions were found to be contagious to the students in determining their conduct (Becker et al.,2014).

Indeed, there are significant positive correlations between student disruption and the level of misbehaviour, and teachers’ use of aggressive techniques (Sutton and Wheatley,2003).

So, to call attention to students’ misbehaviours, yelling has never been the tool for achieving good classroom discipline. We have to avoid it.

16. Making all decisions in the classroom

We plan and make every decision that concerns students’ learning. Because we think this is entirely our job and no one knows how to do it better than us. And because we’re TEACHERS, we have to have control of everything in the classroom: the physical setting, students’ behaviours, and also learning.

In addition to all that, we should reflect on our teaching, attend PD programmes and keep on learning to achieve our growth. We’re making all decisions in our classroom and even when we go home we decide on a lot of things. That’s why we find teaching overwhelming.

So, why not invite our students to make certain decisions that concern their learning? It not only lessens that burden but also makes our students involved in their learning and develops their agency.

Indeed, giving them opportunities to make choices and voice their ideas is a must to help them think, set goals, and decide how they need to streamline. This should not be regarded as carelessness or less rigidity from us but as a stimulus to develop critical minds and empower students’ learning.

These are the 16 Common Classroom Management Mistakes all Teachers should avoid. In Part 1 and Part 2, we talked about those mistakes that concern our instructions and interaction with students. Whereas in Part 3 and Part 4, the focus was more on those mistakes that wreck our relationships with students, productivity, and well-being.

I hope this blog series will help. All the best.

References
Becker, E.S., Goetz, T., Morger, V., &Rallenucci, J. (2014).The importance of teachers’ emotions and instructional behaviour for their students’ emotions.An experience sampling analysis. Teaching and Teacher Education, 43, 15–26.

Sutton, R.E., & Wheatley, K.F. (2003). Teachers’ Emotions and Teaching: A Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research. Educational Psychology Review, 15(4), 327–358.