2. Be definite. Assignments should be spelled out so that students know what they are to do. The amount of guidance required varies with the age and maturity of the students.คำแนะนำเด็กนั้นจะต้องคำนึงถึงอายุและวุฒิภาวะของนักเรียน Any evidences of indecision can serve as the point of entry for misbehavior. Let’s look at three different assignments. “And now you may review for a while.” “I think you need to review the material on gas law problems, so you may work on this for a while.” “During the next ten minutes see how many of the gas law problems you can complete. They are found on page 168 in your book.” Any experienced teacher will see the gradation in this sequence. The first one is an open invitation to “goof off,” with attendant problems. The second is more definite, while the last is even more so. Student response would likely be more positive in the third assignment.
3. Be natural. Even a small child can detect insincerity and resent it! The story is told of the young teacher who had her class on a field trip for nature study. She patted a tree lovingly and gushed. “Oh ,you dear old oak, how I love you!” All the students knew that it was a maple tree. Another teacher went into ecstasies because Joey had worked a problem in arithmetic. Then Joey’s neighbor pointed out that the answer was incorrect. Such over-done incidents make the teacher look silly.
Most students accept teachers for what they are, but the process of developing a functional relationship with students is greatly simplified if we don’t try to be something we aren’t. We deal with observant people, and any attempt to fool them usually creates problems.
4. Act your age. Students do not look upon you as a buddy, pal or peer. They expect you to be a mature adult. They assume that there will be a generation gap. Many young teachers have a tendency to seek popularity, and in their efforts along this line, they resort to tactics that can create endless problems. While it is true that the real age spread between the teacher and some of the students may be relatively small, two different levels of maturity are represented. One young lady, just out of college, suggested that her senior high students call her by her first name. Almost immediately problems began to crop up. The teacher-pupil relationship is not a peer relationship.5. Be consistent and fair. Students are confused when a teacher accepts a certain type of behavior today but flares up over the same behavior tomorrow. The teacher who can be consistent in day to day relationships with students is at a definite advantage. Nothing arouses student resentment more than for a teacher to have pets. Historically, the term “teacher’s pet” has had a stigma attached, and this is still true. We as teachers are most unlikely to deliberately have pets, but sometimes a pattern of preferential treatment for certain people can creep in. For example, in giving grades, we have two students whose class work is about the same. One is clean, cooperative and pleasant; the other displays totally opposite traits. Wouldn’t it be easy to “make an error in arithmetic” in favor of the former? Some teachers report that consistency and fairness are doubly important in a classroom where two or more ethnic groups are represented. Unless he is very careful, the teacher may be accused of favoritism toward his own ethnic group. When this happens, disciplinary problems are likely to continue.
6. Develop a thick skin. The classroom can be a chamber of horrors for a teacher who is excessively sensitive. Many students come from an environment where blunt, direct or even crude speech is the norm, and any student can, on occasion, provide an opportunity for the teacher to get his or her feelings hurt. If the teacher is inclined to do so, he or she can live in a perpetual state of pout, self-pity and anger. Unfortunately, some teachers consistently apply adult standards to student conduct. Such standards are acquired as part of a growth process. In a first grade, a boy was telling about seeing a dog run in front of a car. As he put it, the care “knocked the hell out of the goddam dog. The teacher, after the initial shock, made this a teaching situation rather than a disciplinary case. Another application of the idea expressed above lies in the question: What shall I see or not see‘? What shall I hear or not hear? Many times, diminished perception is the best strategy. A young man was working as a counselor at a large inner-city high school. He found that, when he would walk past a group of students in the corridor, there would frequently be a remark made about him (but not to him) that could have led to a disciplinary situation. But he developed the ability to ignore these remarks: outwardly, he didn’t hear them. After a period of time, the remarks were no longer made, since they had not served the intended purpose.
7. Avoid arguments. A teacher who is firm and fair does not move in on a situation until the right time, and this basi