ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS

OF EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

Dr. Linda F. KightProfessional Learning

“Character is much easier kept than recovered.”

Thomas Paine

What will be Your Reputation?

Maintain a Positive

Reputation

Every teacher on every campus has a reputation.

Students learn quickly who the ‘nice’ teachers are, who the ‘screamers’ are, who give the most homework, who ‘cares’ the most, or who gives the most office rreferrals.

How do parents judge the reputation of teachers?

Maintain a Positive Reputation

Think – Pair- Share

What are some things teachers do to shape their reputation either negatively or positively?

Give examples.

Maintain a Positive Reputation

Teachers know the reputation of their counterparts, too.

You don’t have to observe a teacher teach to make a fairly accurate determination about a teacher’s character and effectiveness.

What is your Reputation?

Whether you want to or not, you will hear students talking about other teachers.

No teacher wants a negative reputation, yet many do.

Think-Pair-Share

How do you handle students who come to you to talk or complain about another teacher?

ReputationThe best way to steer away from

a negative reputation is to not

establish one in the first place

because once you have one it is

extremely difficult to change it.

Do Not Fall Prey to

Victimization

Teachers are not Victims of their Jobs!

We all picked our jobs, presented our credentials and interviewed for our jobs.

We chose this profession, and we can leave any time we so choose.

Yet, you will hear victim comments. What are some comments you have heard?

Common Victim Statements

“Can you believe what they’re asking us to do? What do they think we are – Superhuman?”

“If I could removed just 5 students from my class, life would be wonderful. I think they gave me those students on purpose.”

“It is hard to teach when you got students acting like animals in your classroom.”

“Don’t bother sending them to the office, they’re not going to do anything.”

Victimization is a dangerous road

It leads to all that is negative

and harmful

not only to ourselves but to our children.

Frustration

• Anger

• Self-righteousness

Circumstances do not make the teacher. Circumstances

‘reveal’ the teacher.

Choose Your

Reactions

Students will push your buttons

• We have very little control over our circumstances, but we can control how we choose to react to those circumstances.

• Students will work diligently to determine who you are as a teacher.

Don’t let them see you Sweat!

• Students will try to evoke negative emotions from the teacher.

• Do not give the students the reactions they are expecting.

How to Neutralize Students

• Treat them with respect, dignity and patience.

• Have high expectations for all of them.

• Students will eventually stop trying to make you lose your temper when they see that you will always do what is best for them.

“If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of other.”

Don’t let negative

co-workers affect you.

Duc de La Rochefoucald

We all stand at the fork of the road. Will you go left or right?

FACT: If there are more than 3 people at your school, there is a good chance that there is a negative faction.

This is not to suggest that the majority of teachers are negative. They are not.

But one negative individual can have a tremendous influence on other co-workers.

Left or Right?

Will you go left- fitting in and falling prey?

Or

Will you go right – doing what is best for students. That’s the only way!

Pros and Cons if You Go Right

PRO: Your classroom will be

an exciting place Students achievement

will rise Student self-esteem

will rise You will be highly

respected Your contribution to

society will be immeasurable.

CON: You will work hard You will run the

risk of being scrutinized by people who choose to go ‘left’.

If You Go ‘Left’PRO: All negative people

will like you. You will be allowed to

gripe all you want. Your workload will be

lightened by the overuse of worksheets, busy work and time fillers.

CON: You will very

likely struggle with discipline, but it will at least give you something else to gripe about.

You will know all the latest gossip.

If you Go ‘Left’ (continued)

PRO: You will experience the

bliss of denial by simply blaming society, parents, administration, and your students

You will CONVENIENTLY forget that YOU have total control, with very few exceptions, over what goes on in your classroom.

CON: Your cynical attitude

will breed resentment in students.

Respectable educators will have no respect for you.

You may figure out one day you have taken the wrong road, and you’ll be sorry.

The Final Destination of Going Right

You will be a happy, successful,

hard-working, contributing, truly

effective, highly qualified, and highly

respected teacher who touches lives

and makes a difference.

The Final Destination of Going Left

You will find yourself burned out,

cynical, bitter individual who missed

out on all the rewards of teaching

and touching lives.

We can all relate to the Blame Game

Steer Clear of the Blame

Game

Playing The Blame Game

Does Us No Good It does not move us forward.

It does not help children.

It does not improve teaching.

It wastes our valuable time and

energy.

The Bottom Line• Every year we get new students.• We do not get to pick them.• We do not get to pick their parents.• We do not have any say in their educational experiences

prior to our teaching them.

• We do get to take them from where they are and help them grow.

• If we are committed to doing that, we have no time for blaming.

• We have only time to share our gifts, recognize their gifts, and help them become what they are capable of becoming.

There is much to gain

Participate in School

Functions

The Benefits of Participating

in School Functions• Participation sends the message to students

and parents that you care.

• Parents who believe you care about their children will be much more likely to support you and work cooperatively with you.

• Students who believe you care about them will work harder, will behave better, and will even turn “cartwheels’ for you.

“By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever yet harmed his stomach.”

Winston Churchill

Avoid Lounge Gossip

This Old Adage is True

“Anyone who will gossip with you will gossip about you.”

No one has ever earned the respect of others by gossiping.

Many teachers have been warned

The Effects of Gossip• There are many cases where students are treated

unfairly because these teachers have been “warned” or unjustly “biased” before even meeting the student.

• Many students are doomed each year because of the careless, harmful words spoken about them between teachers.

• Imagine if you were judged or evaluated by your new principal based on mistakes you made in the past.

another teacher chose to “warn”

The antithesis of gossip is serving others

Some where down the line you will encounter others who will try to engage you in empty, meaningless gossip.

DO NOT PARTICIPATE.

Not only is it unprofessional but it symbolizes the antithesis of what we stand for – serving and helping others.

Learn and Grow from Your Mistakes

Teachers, even the best teachers, make mistakes.

Learn to Recover Quickly

Effective v Ineffective Teachers

Effective teachers know how to recover from their mistakes quickly.

When they make a mistake they readily admit it.

If at all possible, they correct it

And then they move on.

Ineffective teachers try to hide behind defensiveness

Doing so makes the mistake a bigger deal than it usually is.

This prevents the teacher from earning the respect of students.

Effective Teachers Ineffective Teachers

Apologize when…• When you said something you should

have not said

• When you inadvertently hurt a child’s

feelings

• When you give incorrect information

How to Handle Mistakes• Acknowledge your mistake and let it go.

• By doing this you will earn the respect of

those you work with and those you teach.

• You will be teaching others that mistakes,

when handled appropriately, can provide

opportunities for learning and growing.

“He who is afraid of asking is afraid of learning.” Danish Proverb

Ask for

Assistance

Affirmation

I am not a “one man show”. I enlist the support of anyone who can provide assistance in helping my students to learn.

I like to request assistance from others but I like to give something back.

Think-Pair-Share Brainstorm ideas for asking students for

assistance.

Brainstorm ideas for asking parents for assistance.

Brainstorm ideas for asking other teachers for assistance.

Brainstorm ideas for asking administrators for assistance.