Calm and Consistent
Take a look at this clip and observe how this teacher needs to learn how to be calm. It seems impossible to react any different when students are this out of control, but learned stress control is a must in teaching.
"Calm is strength. Upset is Weakness" (Jones, 2007, p. 180)
"Never make a rule that you are not willing to enforce everytime." (Jones, 2007, p. 190)
Being calm and consistent has to be two of the hardest things that a teacher has to do in a classroom. While both of these can be learned, it takes much practice to be strong in the midst of adversity. The career of teaching is more stressful then most realize and many teachers quit only a few years into it.
Emotions are hard to control, especially when they are highly contagious. If a student starts yelling at us, it is our natural response to fight back. Staying calm is hard when we have a natural tendency, or a fight-flight reflex, that causes us to react instantly when threat comes our way (Jones, 2007, p. 172). This reflex occurs in two phases, fast (tension) and slow (adrenaline). Our fast (neuromuscular) reflex is to open our eyes wide, clench our teeth. This causes our blood vessels to contract in our stomach, leaving acid behind as our heart rate increases. Our slow (biochemical) reflex increases our metabolism, creates nervous energy, and takes another twenty-seven minutes for that adrenaline to leave the bloodstream (Jones, 2007, p. 172). Staying calm is a matter of breathing. Breathing lowers heart rate and blood pressure. If we simply breathe, we can control our emotions instead of our students controlling them. It is important to be calm, because emotions are contagious and whatever emotion we give to our students is what we are going to get back. If they are starting to raise their voice and only given back the sense of calm, they will calm as well. We cannot attack threats with more threats. As this profession demands, we are to lead under pressure. Therefore, we have to be experts at being calm despite the circumstances.
Being consistent is essential to being an effective teacher. There is no such thing as degrees of consistency; you either are consistent or you are inconsistent. The foundation of consistency is discipline. Contrary to some beliefs, discipline comes before instruction. In order to teach discipline effectively, consistency must be implemented. If a student is goofing off and you do not immediately correct the behavior, you are saying that it is acceptable. If you see a problem, act and act fast. It doesn’t matter if the disruption is large or small, deal with both. If you react to every misbehavior that you don’t want to allow, the rules will become a reality. They will know you are serious and soon give up on trying to argue. Students need to know that no matter how hard they try to make you change your mind, you won’t listen or even budge.
Another aspect of consistency is defining the word “no.” Many times, our students think “no” means “maybe” or “if you keep pushing” or even “yes.” We cannot control what happens at home; very often, parents are tired of the nagging and end up giving in. The classroom environment cannot look like this. No must mean no. Every time. No exceptions. The class must have two distinct rules: #1- No means no and #2- I am not going to listen to you argue or argue back.
Spiritual Application: Hebrews 12:11 says, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” This verse is perfect. Discipline is hard to understand, but there is always a great purpose for it. If we implement discipline and consistency in our classroom, our students will not only learn what is right and wrong, but will be given structure. Our goals are to help our students grow in self-control and give them a place where they feel safe and secure. By being calm and consistent, we will be giving them this place.
