The past few days I have been doing my visits to schools to share inspiration and encourage teachers to hold on in this profession. It was clear to me that some of them have lost hope and would like to have a summer holiday at this stage already. I said something about the disciplinary challenges and I heard the resounding YES.
Unfortunately for many of these teachers, discipline and classroom management are treated as the by the way issues which are not really part of learning. They treat them as the "as and when" issues. That is why many of them battle to maintain a quiet and learning environment. In the following weeks I will be sharing on this topic of effective classroom management to help many to begin the journey to fruitful learning.
Ill-discipline is an indication of a failed relationship between a teacher and a learner. Every discipline starts with building of relationships. The effective teacher will understand that he/ she cannot successfully discipline learners if he / she has not build solid relationships. Let me share with you some of those relationships which are imperative for the teacher if he /she is to effectively manage the classroom:
1. Relationship with the learner: Learners respond very well to teachers who have build good and mutual relationships. This can be attained inside and / or outside of the classroom. It may sound very obvious that this kind of relationship will automatically begin when the teacher steps into the classroom. This relationship is built by studying the patterns of the learner from the interaction the learner has with the peers in class and outside of the class. It is clear that the learner's social life can give away more about the learner than his or her mouth can reveal. Studying the learner's interactions will help you to build the relationship with the learner. Some of this relations can be built in the sports field or the cultural club. I can still remember how my grade 11 teacher during our choir practice called me. This is because when we were at choir practice, there were certain things and ways that we did things. Building these relationships will surely eliminate a lot of challenges when the two get back to class.
2. Relationship with the parent: I was very impressed some few days ago when I went into the admin of one school when I found a guardian having a conversation with the teacher regarding a learner who apparently had been arrested. I could not get the full details of the story, but it looked like the situation had affected the learner. The teacher was reporting to the guardian about how this boy looked that morning in class before he asked for permission to go to court. The guardian did not go to court due to some commitment but she chose to go to school to get more information about the state of this learner at school. When they parted ways, the teacher asked the parent to give her numbers so that they can communicate further regarding this learner. A teacher who builds the relations with the parents create an opportunity for trust and a warm environment with the parent. When a learner knows that his/ her teacher is in a friendly relationship with the parents or the guardian, majority of problems would be won.
3. Relationship with other teachers from other schools: The challenges faced by teachers are common but they differ due to the various contexts. Teachers who share on the strategies to improve their disciplinary ways are successful in doing this. It is crucial that when teachers communicate across the schools, they begin to be observant and close the network of these children as they influence each other across the various schools especially the schools in the same townships. When I was still in school, we dealt with similar cases in Cosmo City where children who belonged to the gangs in different schools were fighting almost every day. But when we discovered their friends in the other schools, it closed the ranks amongst them because they felt that they had been discovered and most of those gangs died because they could not serve any purpose after being discovered.
Discipline relies a lot on relationships. Teachers who prioritize building relationships eventually become masters of discipline. When the learners become aware of what and how you deal with them and the relationship you have built with them over a certain period of time, they become obedient to your rules and make learning much easier.
Let us leave it here today, we will continue in the next article in the other important factor of discipline. Next time we will look at the kinds of ill disciplined learners. Till then!!!