Using Personal Skills in the Classroom

As I write this week’s article on Mother’s Day, a day when I usually reminisce about my children who are now adults, I remember how my world did a somersault when the three of them were born.

It filled my life with happiness, and a recognition that I needed new skills!

Wow! Being their mom has been my most rewarding role in life.

Such feelings today, made me think of the children and adolescents in our classrooms who act out and forget to be respectful and appropriate at times, especially this time of year when everyone is stressed.

I know that you try your best to find the words to say to calm them, or in some circumstances, control their actions.

But how often are you successful?

And when the “failure” happens, how do you respond? 

Do they know how much it bothers you? 

So, on this Monday, let’s consider this...

What if you used your skills as a mom, or a good partner to those important people in your life, during those challenging times in the classroom?

What if you shared your frustration with your students about having so much work to get done, your unhappiness with their attention to your lesson, or how the students ignored the importance of a lesson, WITH the students? 

Yep, I mean a heartfelt, come together moment in the classroom, or with an individual student, with you being…human, you know, like some of you might do with important people in your life.

You’ve tried everything else, right?  

There are only a few weeks left in most of our classrooms until summer break.

So, to help YOU get through those days when kids are a bit off track or they are making you feel crazy, try this:  Put aside the work for a few minutes, get their attention somehow, and explain how important they are to you FIRST! 

Share how you feel as you talk to them.

Yes, do it.

Then, ask an important question to your classes or, to an individual student like this: “What do you think I might need from you right now, so I can teach you this lesson?”  

Wait for answers.

Watch their responses. 

This is a tried-and-true activity that I share with my school counseling interns and teachers. I am ALWAYS amazed at the answers they get when the classroom climate changes as a result.

You deserve this.