Why do teachers have problems with discipline?

I am providing a number of breeding grounds for disciplinary problems which teachers and parents experience. As said I am addressing them from a Thinking Tool angle and take the viewpoint that the children in front of you are unmannered. How does the teacher get them mannered? One can follow the army-like disciplinary avenue or the Great Teaching avenue to change behaviour. We know by now the army style does not work.

I can write a thesis on the topic but will stick to some issues as they are addressed in my teacher and parent sessions.

The issues below are detrimental for already ill-mannered children. Traditional teaching is not the correct medicine to establish a growth mindset in learners. Handling them with the wrong tools is oil on fire. Teachers need creative skills to outwit, manage and teach ill-mannered learners manners and not weapons.

Over above the below issues, the sessions also address learners attaching the teacher.

Issue 1: Pacing

Teachers get their guidance and pace from the curriculum. This provides traditional teachers with a mindset with regards to direction and pace. The word curriculum comes from the word race course, meaning all the learners must follow the same course at the same pace. Visualize a class as a platoon soldiers marching the course. Train smash: If you say ‘left’ a meaningful number put down their right feet. Are they deaf, ignorant or plainly undisciplined by their parents. Parents are tied to the same phenomenon and are also clueless. So, it does not help pointing fingers to each other. Both need education.

This pacing thing is a breeding ground for a disciplinary train smash! During sessions teachers and parents are equipped to address this.

Issue 2: Communication

Teachers’ mindsets are informing them that as they teach, learners should grasp in an accumulative way as they march towards the test day. Teachers anticipate a build-up of knowledge as they expose the topic over a week or two. This mindset did not change for 300 years. 

Learners of the 21st century want instant and incremental endorsement or support on their learning progress. Listening to an explanation today, only to be assessed on it in two weeks, is not on for them. 

Breeding ground for a disciplinary train smash! During sessions teachers and parents are equipped to address this.

Issue 3: The curriculum versus the brain.

Teachers’ explanations are in a linear format (as the curriculum and textbooks), i.e. first a) then b) then c), etc. It is impossible for learners’ brain to stick to this.

How 21st century learners think, aligns with the fact that the brain can only think in non-linear ways. The non-linear working ways of the brain become eminent when we explore an idea. After a while, we find it impossible to backtrack our thinking from our last idea to the original one. Our minds enjoy wandering around and cannot resist being distracted by pop-up ideas. This becomes even clearer when the mind is forced to listen to a boring speech or lecture. In no time, the mind can take us on a holiday or plan something closer to our heart. Metaphorically speaking, the brain operates in hyperlinked ways. Whenever the mind gets to a challenging idea, it ‘clicks’ on that hyperlink and within a split second the mind finds itself in another realm. 

Breeding ground for a disciplinary train smash! During sessions teachers and parents are equipped to address this.

Issue 4: Words disappearing in thin air.

If I say: “The surfboard is red”, only two of the words can be visualized. There is a plethora of words that are not visualize-able or easy to visualize in our brains, e.g.: About, again, all, almost, also, always, and, another, any, done, don’t, down, each, either, else, each, every, everything, for, least, let, leave, like, put, same, see, until, up, upon, us, very, we, what, when, where, whether, you.

Have you ever given an instruction: “ALL of you must complete the word up to page 7”, only to be frustrated to death by the very friendly child approaching you with a question: “Must I also complete the work up to page 7?”

Breeding ground for a disciplinary train smash! During sessions teachers and parents are equipped to address this.

I have a word for this, I call it #auditoryBlind