• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

October 25, 2013 Classroom Management

Consistency is Part of the Recipe

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Lee-Ann Meredith

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao Tzu Lee-Ann Meredith is a second grade teacher, author, Department Chairperson and education advocate who has spent the duration of her time in public education at John B. Murphy Elementary School in inner city Chicago. Often characterized as funny, dynamic, and an independent innovator, Lee-Ann cites her idol as Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus. Fluent in a wide range in instructional strategies for the elementary level, Lee-Ann is dedicated to being an advocate for children everywhere by implementing 'cutting edge' strategies to increase student achievement. Some of the issues that she spearhead included: promoting literacy throughout the building, leading community meetings to advocate for full day kindergarten for all students and helping implement the Responsive Classroom strategies throughout the school. In addition to working closely with the curriculum, she also had the honor to supervise (and mentor into teaching positions) numerous student teachers and practicum students from various post-secondary institutions around the Chicago area such as: Erikson Institute, National Louis, DePaul. Northeaster Illinois, Roosevelt, and North Park Universities.
  • Social Emotional Learning: Can It Help Our Most Vulnerable Students? - August 27, 2017
  • Why We Should Teach Meditation in the Classroom - November 8, 2016
  • Strike! - October 5, 2016
  • Teaching a Superpower - September 22, 2016
  • Essentially, I am a Teacher - August 30, 2016
  • A Chicago Teacher's Dream - January 22, 2016
  • A Career in Crisis - August 27, 2015
  • Classroom Community and Rock-Paper-Scisssors - July 22, 2015
  • The Art of Teaching - June 22, 2015
  • Parent tip: Beyond Sounding It Out - June 4, 2015

baking“What are you supposed to be doing right now?” I crossed my arms and cocked my head to look at a group of girls gathered on the rug. I was working with a small group. The girls froze. Then with a flurry, they went back to desks to work independently on their reading contracts. That was it. No cute banter, no pouting, and especially no excuses. They knew what interrupting a small group would mean. They would have to sit with the group I was working with and participate. It meant they wouldn’t finish their work and it would become homework. Unless you were about to vomit or someone was bleeding, no interruptions.

Consistency has two definitions. The first is a routine way of doing something. Yes, we had regular routines in my classroom. Rewards and consequences were part of the consistency. There was a continuity of practice and clarity in my expectations. But consistency was the skill that made authentic learning possible in my classroom.

Oscar Wilde likened consistency to boredom. I never saw it that way. Perhaps it is because the second meaning of consistency is viscosity. It was the weight and texture that gave an underpinning to the entire world of my classroom. I never saw consistency as equal to rigidity. It was on a spectrum between static and fluid.

Let’s use my favorite pie crust analogy. If you use too much pressure or work the crust too much before you roll it out, it becomes hard and tasteless. These are the classrooms ruled by an iron fist. The teachers who use anger or shame produce crusts that are stiff and flat. Too little working makes a lumpy and unpredictable crust. You know these rooms. Wild, out of control, and the poor teacher is often clueless why no one ever listens. Perhaps even worse are the pie crust where both techniques are used interchangeably so no on ever has an inkling which type of crust they will bite into. A gentle fingertip touch with just enough pressure is the trick to creating something light, flaky and tasty.

One trick I learned was avoiding being the judge to classroom behavior. I tired never to use the phrase “I like the way…” or “I love how…” Try this in your room one day. When only a few students are doing what they are supposed to be doing, announce to the class “I notice five people are ready for math (or whatever).” Watch what happens. You will suddenly have fifteen people ready. Then twenty. Even your perpetual straggler will hurry to be one of the people you notice. Don’t name names. Just count who is ready. It’s astonishing. That is the gentle fingertip touch.

In my second grade class, we discussed then practiced what to do when they were done with their work. It had to be learning but be fun to make it an incentive to finish on a timely basis. It became part of the routine. It was a reward for hard work.

Consequences had to be related to the misbehavior. If you drew on your desk, you had to wash it. If you drew on it everyday, you washed it each time. If this was becoming a simple work avoidance practice, I had a meeting with the child and we tried to come up with a better solution. I know some teachers who would have the child wash every desk in the room. In my mind, that is just to shame the student and it is unproductive. It has to be relevant. Overdoing consequences make children fearful to take risks, to be imperfect. I believe imperfection is a blessing not a curse. It frees you up to learn from your errors.

Rewards and consequences need to be, you guessed it, consistent. If it is the consequence on Day 8 of the school year, it needs to be the consequence on Day 88. If it is the reward for Sweet Sue, it is the reward for Stan the Stinker. Yes, it takes a slow and steady rhythm to build this into your classroom but the payoff after a few weeks is astonishing. You will always have a few children who have to test and retest limits but the other 20-some kids will know how to fall into line with a simple reminder.
I never allowed children to negotiate or argue with me about a consequence when I gave it. If they had a problem with it or felt it was unfair, they were allowed to talk to me privately at a quiet time in a respectful way. I would listen and if I felt the consequence needed to change, I had no hesitation to do so. If another busy body questioned why someone got off, I simply said that we had discussed it and it was settled. Then I reminded them it was really not any of their business.

While consistency is a wonderful skill to learn that will make your life easier, there is another side to it. Kids with behavior problems or who come from troubled homes need the stability your consistency gives them. You are giving them someone who will react the same steady way each time. You are handing them a safe place to let their guard down and be themselves. That is one sweet piece of pie.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailA Fresh Recipe for Managing Difficult Students 12 Tips for Maintaining Classroom Self Control Default ThumbnailTrick or Treat! Tolerance in Public Schools Default ThumbnailWhat to Do About Your Perpetual Motion Student
« Looking Back on a Terrible Week: Teachers Killed in the Line of Duty
Teachers Who Won't Be Silent Anymore: Lauren Hopson - Pt. 1 »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • Looping Kept Me From Quitting Teaching. Here's Why
  • Educators Need Safe Spaces Too
  • It's Time to End Elitist Music Education
  • My Question to White Teachers: Why Are You Here?

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.