What if I told you there were three simple questions you could ask yourself that had the potential to completely transform your classroom?
These three questions could give you back up to 10 hours of instructional time per week.
Yes, really.
The average educator loses between 3-10 hours per week handing low-level misbehaviors and discipline issues.
The average educator loses between 3-10 hours per week handing low-level misbehaviors and discipline issues.
These questions would help you pick your battles in class, which will render about 90% of them obsolete.
You wouldn’t be asking yourself anymore “Do I address this issue? Can I ignore this?” because the answers will be obvious. And before you know it you are actually teaching again.
You know, that thing you signed up to do, and not running interference with student behaviors all day long.
Knowing When To Address Or Ignore a Class Disruption
Address or ignore? Here are three simple questions that will help you decide:
- Can I teach?
- Can the students learn?
- Can he/she learn?
Are the answers yes? Then by all means, keep teaching.
This isn’t a battle you need to fight right now. Does everyone have the same answer to #1?
No, we are all different and have different levels of tolerance for certain behaviors.
When To Take Action on Disruptive Behaviors
Now consider: is the answer to any one question no?
Then it is time to take some sort of action. What type of action? That is for another post.
However, the first step is to decide if action is needed, and we have to know this before we can discern the appropriate action.
Save yourself the time and energy of taking action for every.single.misbehavior. It just isn’t necessary.
It is time to take those 10 hours of your life back!
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Thanks for the great read! We get caught up in small things too often!
I'm so glad you found it useful! Letting the little things go is hard, but so necessary in education!
Great wisdom!
I am in a classroom of 15 2nd grade boys and 8 girls – whole the behavior is good, it’s often difficult to manage the talking and speaking out on a daily basis! I will try the!
YES. This can be draining!
There is wisdom and experience to these questions. Even as a 20+ year educator, it is a great reminder. Thank you for sharing and encouraging teachers to get their time back.
Thank you! I encourage the teachers I work with – both novice and experienced – to ask themselves these questions all day long. I'm glad, as a 20+ year educator, you also saw value in the topic!
Scott, you reminded me of the saying, "Sometimes the simplest path, is the best path." I think that's the case here with these questions. They do a great job helping educators make simple reflections and minor adjustments with major impact!