1. It is not always beneficial to address students' behaviors. Often, just with your own children, ignore the behavior and it will go away. Every action does not warrant a reaction.
2. Negative behaviors get attention. Often, attention is what the culprit craves, whether negative or positive. Other reasons include fitting in with the crowd, not understanding expected behaviors, demonstrating the power to elicit a response from someone else...
3. Continual criticism can lead to frustration, decreased desire to please, shutdown or rebellion.
4. Everyone wants attention. The goal is to provide the attention before a student obviously seeks it. We can find and point out the positives and ignore some of the negatives. Everyone has strengths.
5. Chap 11 seems so obvious. I believe teachers must arrange all situations to be most beneficial to all students. Chap. 12 was more thought provoking. My favorite comment in this chapter was to always treat students as if his/her parents were in the room. How true!! Many of us are guilty of putting on our company manners when a parent comes around. I've even had parents comment on it. That is something I would like to keep in the back of my mind. Chap 12 also made me ponder the common practice of teaching to the middle. I try to provide instruction to match the needs of each student, but honestly, I spend the majority of my time/effort on the largest group of children, those that fit in the middle. The best students are often the most overlooked. I need to focus more and more on those guys.
6. Effective teachers provide an environment in which negative behaviors are just not that common. This includes engaging children, modeling, establishing clear expectations, providing predictable positive/negative consequences...
7. My broken record...RESPECT! It is not about power. Teachers/students must respect one another and the roles they each play in the class/school.

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1. Simply put--A great teacher knows when to look for trouble and when to look away! Great teachers learn from experience which issues demand immediate attention and which will wait for a more teachable moment. By overlooking things which are irrelevant and trivial and not being so critical of students, they in turn gain a mutual respect for you as a teacher and role model.
2. Most students misbehave because they seek attention. In some cases, it doesn't seem to matter whether that attention is negative or positive.
3. Students will begin to "shut down" or simply quit producing good work. They start to tune us out after a while when criticized frequently. Sometimes a child's behavior will continue and/or escalate when criticized and it becomes a battle of wills.
4. Great teachers know how to give their students the attention they need right from the start. Misbehavior doesn't spiral out of control in their classrooms, because they stay ahead of the curve.
5. Great teachers always have a plan and a purpose! Each year I reevaluate and make necessary adjustments or changes to help carry out my plan and purpose. Actually great teachers make necessary adjustments daily without the students even noticing.
6. Great teachers exude confidence and self-control in the classroom. The students already know who is in control, so most of the time there are no battle of wills or power struggles. Great teachers plan ahead and foresee what can happen and seem to always be a step ahead of their students. The ineffective teacher is always trying to prove herself and often ends up in a power struggle. Management is not a strong point.
7. Great teachers change the dynamics of their classroom by careful planning. They intentionally arrange, rearrange, alter and adjust the structures that frame their teaching. These alterations do not involve a power struggle. They may seem random, but they have a definite underlying intent.

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