May Newsletter

I would like to open my May Newsletter by thanking everyone for their positive emails!  It is really rewarding to be a part of an organization that has helped so many people.  Many of you have told me stories of your first year of teaching…the good, the bad, the victories, the challenges, and how www.newteacherhelp.com has helped you survive your first years in the classroom.  I am so happy that the website is doing just what I envisioned it would do!  Now that I have the mushy stuff out of the way, let’s get to the main point of this article:  The Power of “Shut Up”.

One of the challenges facing a new teacher is the task of getting students to be quiet.  Many times a day, the teacher has to “set the tone” for listening and learning in their classroom.  Some teachers use the “quiet signal”, a raised hand signaling students that it is time for the teacher to talk or give directions.  Other teachers simply stand in front of the room, giving “the look” to students who do not take their seats and prepare to begin class.  As teachers gain valuable experience, they discover ways to control their class without the use of harsh tactics.

Novice teachers may fall into the trap of becoming “screamers”.  Screamers are people who yell at students in an attempt to scare or embarrass them into compliance with the class rules.  Screamers are effective for a while, but their effectiveness diminishes over time.  In order to maintain their effectiveness, the screamer has to come up with new ways to intimidate, scare, or embarrass students.  After a period of time, the teacher begins to use the words “shut up” to address students, because nothing else works.  The use of the term “shut up” exposes the teacher to a world of heartache and pain, the results of which are very demoralizing to the teacher.

I am not sure when this happened, but the term “shut up” is not acceptable for use with children or adults.  I can remember when I was in school, my teachers and coaches used the term freely, and without repercussions.  I can also remember them using far worse language than “shut up” to get us to be quiet.  Whatever the case, it is a tool that has been removed from the teacher’s tool box.  Some blame the modern, politically correct climate that exists in the United States, some have traced the paradigm shift to “Generation X” parents who question authority, and fight for their children because of bad experiences they remember from their own youth.  The result in this shift in thinking is this:  You are basically giving students a “Get Out of Jail Free” card when you tell them to shut up.

I know what you are thinking… “How am I empowering students just by using the term “shut up?”  Here’s a scenario that plays itself out all too often in our schools:  A novice teacher is having problems keeping students quiet, and becomes frustrated.  Finally, at the end of his rope, he screams at students “Shut Up!”  If the teacher is lucky, students comply and get quiet.  Some students, though, have been instructed by their parents to “stand up for themselves” if the teacher is rude to them.  These students confront the teacher, saying things like, “You can’t speak that way to me.”  The teacher is now even more frustrated, and decides to give the students a discipline referral, or call home, or both.  When calling the student’s parents, the teacher is horrified to find that the parents are mad at the teacher, not the misbehaving student.  The teacher is even more horrified to find that the Principal is also on the student’s side in their dispute.  The Principal may also have received a call from the mad parents, asking “What kind of school are you running?  You allow teachers to speak to students that way?”  The Principal has no choice but to say that she does not allow that kind of behavior from her teachers.

But, wait…it gets worse.  Let’s pretend that no students confront the teacher when he yells “shut up” at them.  Students silently file the incident in their memory banks, to use at a later date.  When a student from that class is being disciplined for some other transgression, he can pull the “shut up” card from his manipulative deck of cards.  “Jesse” is being talked to by his parents for the bad grade he has in your class, or his office referral for throwing paper wads, or talking without permission…all he has to do is say “But Mr. Jones tells us to shut up all the time, and it upsets me and makes me feel bad.”  In that instant, Jesse’s parents forget about their son’s misbehavior, and instead focus their wrath on the teacher.  Jesse smiles to himself as his parents grab the phone, and call their son’s school.  He walks out of the living room unscathed, and goes outside to play with his friends.  Yes, I know that this is unfair…but it happens hundreds of times a day in America.

How can you avoid this phenomenon?  You need to establish yourself as someone who would never use the phrase “shut up” to gain control of your classroom.  Never use the phrase, not even as a joke.  Once you do that…the “Power of Shut Up” will work for you, not against you!

Have you decided to build your teacher website yet?  I can help you accomplish your goal…just email me at newteacherhelp@yahoo.com and we can start putting a plan together.  You won’t end up like those other teachers who built their website and never update it.  We can make sure you build the site, and receive the necessary training and support to be able to update it whenever you want…update it every day if you want to!  You can check out a "sample website" that I built by going to www.newteacherhelp.ws.  I pretend to be a Math teacher, and show you how your website would look if you let me help you build it.