Sweat the Small Stuff

There are many ways to go wrong when managing a classroom. However, if new teachers enforce a ban on just two items, hats and Ipods, they enforce the message, an especially powerful symbolic message, that the teacher is in charge and all students will learn in this environment.

Hats: No hats are worn in the classroom. I enforce this District rule, and it is worth it. The hat, usually, a baseball cap, is a symbol of outdoor activity, sport, gang membership and general lawlessness. I would allow a head covering for religious reasons, but, so far, no one has requested that.

Ipods and other music devices: District policy does not allow them on in class. Kids can listen on breaks and during lunch. Teachers that allow them in the classroom send students the following destructive messages:
1. It is OK to be inattentive in school as long as you are not bothering other students.
2. The quality of your work doesn’t matter. Only getting it done quickly matters.
3. When you’ve done the distasteful stuff—learning—you may do something you enjoy.
4. Multitasking is effective.
5. Negative musical energy and lyrics are acceptable in the classroom. (They aren’t listening to Mozart.)

Students figure that if I ban the little things, hats and electronics, I may be equally against classroom use of foul language and marijuana. I still have occasional classroom management issues, as do most teachers, but I have less of them when hats and Ipods are out of sight.