What Great Teachers Do Differently

by Todd Whitaker

  Great teachers work hard to keep their relationships in good repair to avoid personal hurt and to repair any possible damage.

  12

  The Ability to Ignore

  Great teachers have an incredible ability to ignore. This doesn’t mean they are oblivious—great teachers are aware of almost everything that happens in their classrooms. Nor does it mean that they have vast reserves of patience (although that helps). Rather, it reflects their mastery of the situations that arise daily in the life of schools. They know how easily one or two students can disrupt the flow of learning, but they also know when to go with the flow, when to take a stand, and how to quell minor disturbances without further distracting others.

  A friend of mine, a policeman, describes one challenge of his job: “You can look for trouble or you can look away.” Like policemen, teachers must know when to do which. Some occasions are entirely predictable; others catch us off guard. Often, we must make decisions on the fly. Great teachers have learned from experience which issues demand immediate attention and which will wait for a more teachable moment.

  Hey, Pretzel Face!

  If the most mature student in your school is walking down the hallway and another student yells an insulting comment (“Hey, pretzel face!”), what happens next? What does the mature student do? Most likely, shrug off the taunt, possibly even with a smile. On the other hand, an immature student may feel compelled to respond in kind, or even escalate the incident to a confrontation.

  Of course, I’m not suggesting that I would ignore a student who called me “pretzel face.” But I am suggesting that great teachers don’t automatically react every time a student steps a little out of line. We’ve all known teachers whose buttons are easily pushed, and we’ve seen how quickly students identify these teachers and their entertainment value!

  If three kids in a class are talking inappropriately, the teacher might say something like, “Folks, let’s quiet down.” The students respond, but not all in the same way. One of the students says, “Sorry,” and gets quiet. (This student has the repairing skills we talked about in Chapter 11.) One student just goes silent and looks down. The third retorts, “We weren’t the only ones talking!” At this point, the teacher has a choice. One teacher might snipe back—”But you were the ones I was talking to!”—and escalate the skirmish into a battle of wills. Another might ignore the remark and let the confrontation subside. Effective teachers model self-control. Their classroom management is grounded in their ability to manage their own behavior.

  Great teachers have the ability to ignore, but this doesn’t mean that they ignore their students. Paradoxically, the students who misbehave often do so simply because they want attention. In some cases, it doesn’t seem to matter whether that attention is negative or positive. But great teachers know how to give their students the attention they need, right from the start. Misbehavior doesn’t spiral out of control in their classrooms because they stay ahead of the curve.

  Ignore Minor Errors

  In a study examining differences between more effective and less effective school leaders, Doug Fiore (1999) determined that one significant variation is that the very best leaders ignore minor errors. The less effective the principal, the greater the likelihood that teachers will describe that leader’s comments as consistently negative. If principals do harp on minor errors, the faculty shies away from contact or interaction with them. For the sake of our own self-worth, we tend to stay away from someone who regularly points out our mistakes. (After all, who among us really welcomes the sort of faultfinding that is presented in the guise of “constructive criticism”?)

  A friend of mine is a truly outstanding principal. When a new superintendent arrived in his district, my friend was eager for him to visit his school. His faculty and staff had done some outstanding things and he was proud to have others see them.

  Soon, the superintendent did come to visit. After a couple of hours dropping into classrooms, he sat down in the principal’s office. He asked the name of the teacher who had the end room in the first hallway. That was good news to the principal, because it was Mr. Martin, a second-year teacher and one of his best. The principal happily related what innovative ideas Mr. Martin had brought to the building and what a great role model he was for the students.

  However, the superintendent then said that the reason he asked was that Mr. Martin had been using the overhead projector and a couple of times (for a second or two) his hand obscured the screen. Yikes! Talk about nitpicking!

  We can all imagine how this felt to the principal. With so many wonderful things going on, the district leader’s first visit to the school was summed up in the most trivial of criticisms. Not only was it hurtful, but also it took away any incentive to welcome the superintendent for another visit. And more than that, it put a damper on the principal’s efforts. He is still effective in his school, but he has pulled back. His accomplishments no longer have district-wide impact.

  The superintendent in this situation had a choice. He could have ignored the thumb obscuring the overhead and everything would have been fine. The relationship between the two administrators would have had a chance to grow. Instead, he focused on something irrelevant and trivial, permanently stunting their relationship.

  We are often our own worst critics.

  How do we apply this information as teachers? We are often our own worst critics. Although we may think that when others criticize us we try harder, at some point, when it happens too frequently, we are likely to quit. Just as with our own children, if we say no too often, their response becomes to tune us out completely. For example, if we want a student to create writing that has passion and voice, we might have to tolerate a missed comma periodically so they will be willing to break new ground in their writing development. If we continually nitpick at a child’s writing, they will eventually only use simple words they know how to spell in very short sentences in order to avoid the wrath of the red pen. This is even truer with the most talented students.

  Understand the High Achievers

  High achievers hold themselves to lofty standards. They expect to succeed at everything they do and work exceedingly hard to do so. That is one reason they are so good. When high achievers have their shortcomings pointed out by someone else, they emotionally deflate. They are used to expecting tremendous things of themselves and they hate to let others down. High achievers put so much of themselves into what they do that any criticism, no matter how minor, can become a personal affront. Furthermore, if our assessment of their work does nothing but point out minor flaws in their achievements, they may take fewer risks the next time around.

  If you ask high achievers about their own performance, they will be much more critical than you would ever dream of being. I remember observing a wonderful lesson—one of those magic moments in the classroom. In the post-observation conference, I opened the discussion by asking the teacher how she thought the class went. She spent several minutes picking apart a magnificent lesson! I finally interrupted her to focus on all the positive things I had observed. My praise enhanced our relationship; I was always welcome to observe in her classroom. She never stopped being judgmental of herself, but that is part of what made her special.

  Students who are high achievers respond the same way. No matter how much we push them, they are much harder on themselves. They don’t want to settle for less than their best. They don’t want to be told that a first draft is “fine,” even though it might be far better than another student’s third revision. On the other hand, they don’t want to be ignored. Great teachers understand how to give these students the kind of attention that keeps them moving forward under their own steam.

  A great teacher resembles the master chef who can keep a busy kitchen cooking along in the midst of what looks like chaos to the uninformed. The great teacher has the ability to ignore trivial disturbances and the ability to respond to inappropriate behavior without escalating the situation. The great teacher has the ability t
o pay attention to students, to recognize and praise their achievements, and the ability to overlook minor errors. It’s a fast-paced and delicate balancing act. The great teacher has mastered this essential skill.

  Great teachers have the ability to ignore trivial disturbances and the ability to respond to inappropriate behavior without escalating the situation.

  13

  Random or Plandom?

  One hallmark of great teachers is that in their classrooms, very little happens at random. Great teachers have a plan and purpose for everything they do. If things don’t work out the way they had envisioned, they reflect on what they could have done differently and adjust their plans accordingly.

  In contrast, their less effective colleagues seem to move through their days by the roll of the dice. In some ways, it almost seems as if they don’t want to have a plan or that they don’t want to take responsibility for what happens. If things don’t work out as well as they had hoped, they look for something or someone else to blame. Here are some examples.

  Why Does Jimmy Always Pick Billy?

  I can remember hearing one teacher exclaim, “Every time I have group work, Jimmy and Billy pick each other as partners and they never get any work done!” Why do Jimmy and Billy always end up as partners? The teacher allows it to happen. Time and again, the outcome is the same. Time and again, the teacher chooses not to intervene. It’s easier to complain about the results than to plan for a different course of events.

  A great teacher may allow students to choose their own work partners. The first time, Jimmy and Billy may choose each other and accomplish little. But this teacher, reflecting on the outcome, will do something differently. Perhaps students will pick a partner’s name from a bucket. In that case, the teacher can manipulate the buckets so Jimmy and Billy are sure to work with new partners. Or students may be paired up alphabetically, or simply instructed to choose a partner they haven’t worked with before. Whatever the plan, the great teacher has taken responsibility.

  The All-school Assembly

  Several times a year, most schools gather their students in the gymnasium or auditorium for a school assembly. Now, suppose an observer from another planet could detect rays—we’ll call them “teacher-rays” or “T-rays”—between each cluster of students and the teacher responsible for them. I predict that the rays emanating from the great teachers would show a typical and distinctive pattern.

  When the best teachers take their students to an assembly, what do they do? They sit by their students—and not just any students, but the students who are most likely to disrupt. The best teachers aren’t rude to these students, but they make their presence felt. Their T-rays send a message that is pleasant but firm. As a result, the students—perhaps to their own amazement—are on their best behavior.

  Now by contrast, our extraterrestrial observer is likely to see the less effective teachers sitting with other teachers, leaning against the wall, or even leaving the room. If they do sit with students, they choose their own comfort zone. As a result, their T-rays must travel farther to reach the students most likely to cause a commotion. These teachers have to boost their T-rays with glares, and still some of their charges behave poorly. Then the teachers can complain, “See what I have to put up with!” Their focus is on the behavior of others rather than on their own. They haven’t learned the power of taking responsibility.

  The Faculty Meeting

  I have always been amazed at how many faculty meetings harbor a cluster of negative teachers—the Cynics Club—who sit together in the back and near the door. I am also astonished that principals feel comfortable leading a group like that. I never had the ability to manage a faculty meeting with a group of inattentive or disrespectful people in the back of the room. After a time, I learned to take matters into my own hands. I developed a plan.

  Instead of allowing the Cynics Club to retain its traditional seats, I would get rid of every extra chair and then switch the back of the room to the front. When the yawners and grumblers drifted into the meeting late (as usual), the only seats left open were in the front row. Additionally, I would have my assistant principal sit next to the Great High Cynic—the most negative staff member in the school—not in an intimidating way, but very politely. Nevertheless, it had the effect of making that person more uncomfortable, less vocal, and less likely to spread an atmosphere of negativity through the room. By taking responsibility, I managed to change the dynamics of the meeting. This same approach applies in the classroom.

  Great teachers intentionally arrange, rearrange, alter, and adjust the structures that frame their teaching. They carefully plan their classroom setup, their instructional approaches, and their time management to promote a productive learning environment. If two students cannot sit by each other peaceably, they no longer sit by each other. If one student tends to be disruptive, the teacher takes steps to minimize that student’s impact on others in the room. If a class spirals into rowdiness by the end of the day, the schedule of activities makes room for them to let off steam appropriately.

  Great teachers intentionally arrange, rearrange, alter, and adjust the structures that frame their teaching.

  These alterations do not involve a power struggle. They may seem random, but they have a definite underlying intent. There is no advantage to challenging and escalating the events that get in the way of learning. The teacher who needs to prove, over and over, who is in charge of the classroom is wasting precious energy on a losing battle. Great teachers do not try to prove who is in charge in their classrooms because everyone knows that the teacher is in charge.

  Great teachers have a plan and purpose for everything they do. If plans don’t work out the way they had envisioned, they reflect on what they could have done differently and adjust accordingly.

  14

  Base Every Decision on the Best People

  We may have been taught to “teach to the middle,” where the majority of the students cluster. However, as long as we teach to the middle, that is where the majority of our students will remain. Great teachers take a different approach. Great teachers aim high. Great teachers make decisions following three simple guidelines:

  1. What is the purpose?

  2. Will this actually accomplish the purpose?

  3. What will the best people think?

  The first rule seems very straightforward, but it’s easy to get sidetracked. One way of reflecting on our teaching practices is to look at why we do what we do. Too often, however, we frame this exploration in the wrong way. Instead of asking what the purpose is, we settle for asking, “What is the reason?”

  Take, for example, the question of why we choose a particular homework assignment. Why assign page 62? Well, the reason might be that page 62 follows page 61, or that we assigned page 62 last year. Why ask students to solve twenty-five math problems? The reason might be that there are twenty-five problems on the page, or that twenty-five divides evenly into 100%. But if we ask what is the purpose, we may end up heading in a more productive direction.

  Another example might be “trade and grade,” the long-familiar practice of having students swap papers and mark each other’s answers. (In the olden days, we might even have tallied the grades by asking each student to call out the result.) Why do we do this? Well, the reason makes sense—it’s convenient for the teacher. But if we follow the model of great teachers and ask what the purpose is, we may decide to use class time far differently.

  Shoplifters Will Be Prosecuted!

  My wife and I love to go antique shopping. All too often, we see signs like this one: Shoplifters Will Be Prosecuted!

  We always chuckle at the added emphasis of capitalizing every word, and even underlining the word will. We picture the light-fingered antique buff thinking, “I was going to steal from this store, but they underlined the word will!”

  What is the purpose of the sign? Is it to keep the honest shoppers honest? If that were the case, we’d all lapse into shoplifting in the stores that don’t
post such signs. Will the sign keep shoplifters from shoplifting? They already know it’s against the law.

  My wife and I always wonder whether these signs do any good. In fact, we have a hunch that they might actually do harm. Imagine browsing through a store. Every time you turn a corner, you encounter another sign:

  Shoplifters Will Be Prosecuted!

  We Are Watching You!

  For the Arrest and Conviction of a Shoplifter...

  Does this make you feel more comfortable, or less? A raft of aggressive anti-shoplifting signs may make the honest shoppers so uncomfortable that they change their behavior and shop somewhere else. Meanwhile, the hardcore shoplifters disregard the signs or even take them as a challenge.

  What has happened here? The store owners have a purpose in mind, but they haven’t thought through whether or not this actually accomplishes the purpose. The store owners have focused on the shoplifters and ignored their “best people”: their customers. Wouldn’t they be better off in the long run with a store full of customers?