Who Is In Charge?

by James Burns | Dec 6, 2018 | Burns' Bench

Asking a student questions is a good thing. It gives you as the teacher an idea of the student’s knowledge base, and at the high school level what his/her views might be on different topics. So questions are good unless you are asking for something that has an obvious answer. Then you are not asking questions you are telling the student to do something and giving him/her a command. Often we can fall into the trap of asking somewhere, when, and why questions to students. Things like; “Why are you late? Where is your pencil? Or, when are you going to sit down, either don’t matter or require a consequence for being tardy, unprepared, or non-compliant. It can be as innocent as stating “We are going to do math now, okay.” When we should be saying, “Take out your math book and turn to page…” Bullies love to do what they want when they want to. So, for the obvious stop asking and start telling.

Notice From The Bench

We are slowly relinquishing our authority. That’s Right. It’s time to regain some of the surrendered ground we have given up as teachers to choices and fear of parental repercussions. Parents too need to realize that their children need to see someone in charge and they are not the one’s making the decisions. When will we as a society understand that a child of five years old doesn’t need a choice they need leadership. They need to be told not asked. When this happens respect will return for authority figures.

Obedience Is A Dirty Word

by James Burns | Dec 6, 2018 | Burns' Bench

Obedience Has Become A Dirty Word

I had to change my vocabulary. I used to say that kids needed to be obedient; now I use the word compliance. Teachers didn’t like it, thought it was too much like dog training. I mean we expect dogs to obey right, well mine doesn’t but that’s another story. So I watered it down, comply sounds better than obey. I compromised myself. I know they mean the same thing right? Wrong. What is the definition of obedience………….Anybody? Let me help you out. Obedience: Doing what you are told, when you are told to do it, with a good attitude. Our students can comply in many ways but still lack the correct attitude and timing. Ask one of your students’ to sit down and determine if he sat down on his terms or yours. How long did it take him/her to get into his seat? Oh, he complied but when and how is still the question. Compliance can also be very temporary. Obedience is very permanent. I don’t have to keep asking; wouldn’t it be nice to ask a kid to do something, and have him/her just do it?  Bullies comply all the time, but in a very temporary way. Permanence comes when our demands are met when we make them and when the student has the right attitude. I left the NJ Turnpike one day and saw a sign that said, “You have left the NJ Turnpike Obey Local Speed Laws.” I guess obedience is not such a dirty word after all.

Notice From The Bench

We live in a world right now where if someone doesn’t agree with a request they don’t have to comply. This has come out of the idea that compliance is relative to a person’s attitude at the time of the request. Arguments and fights break out because situations are viewed differently by two different parties. Take a look; politics, sports, families, friends, and relatives. It is okay to have a difference of opinion but when requests are made that require compliance we all have to be aware that someone is in charge. Our student’s don’t get this, and they have become adults who don’t get it as well. In order to create a safer world we all have to abide by rules and procedures, if not chaos will take over. Discipline means to teach and when students become unteachable and do and say what they want when they want to they will leave a wake of broken relationships, job related problems and lack the skills to have a civilized discussion.

We Wander In The Gray Abyss

by James Burns | Dec 6, 2018 | Burns' Bench

We Wander In The Gray Abyss

I guess everyone has reasons for doing or saying certain things and behaving in ways that are hurtful, disrespectful, irresponsible and just down right inappropriate. Understanding these reasons help us as teachers set reasonable expectations for our students. The problems begin when these reasons become excuses. When student behaviors such as disrespect and emotional cruelty are attributed to poor genetics, or environmental short comings are left uncorrected, by default we communicate to the student that we agree with the behavior. Disrespect is not a condition it is a learned behavior, and students must be held accountable for their actions. Bullying should never be justified or excused because of poor genetics or negative environmental influences. Respect can always be taught with the imposition of the right consequences. Always let your students know that BULLYING IS WRONG AND IT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!

Notice From The Bench

If behaviors like disrespect and irresponsibility are allowed to continue without any consequences they will morph into other more intense behaviors and will begin at an earlier age. Some children today already know how to give the finger, use profanity, and defy authority at the age of five years old. We can blame circumstance if we want, and there may be many reasons for certain behaviors when we excuse them the child is set up for a lifetime of misery and failure. Everyone knows where we are right now. It took us 20 years to get here. Where do we want to be at the end of the next 20 years?

Introducing Burns’ Bench

by James Burns | Dec 6, 2018 | Burns' Bench

Burns’ Bench

I have been working as a teacher, administrator, college instructor and consultant for nearly 42 years. During this time I have seen it all; the escalation of disrespect, blatant irresponsibility and absolute continued willful disobedience. I can remember sometime immediately after the Columbine High School Shootings in 1999 when I was still working as a school administrator saying that as long as bullying exists there is going to be angry kids who have to seek revenge on someone, group, or institution. I then cautioned that this type of horror might soon find its way onto college campuses and then other social venues as well.  Well tragically it did.

I ended up leaving administration in 2004 and began public speaking encouraging school to treat disrespect seriously and to hold kids accountable in a real way for irresponsibility and non-compliance.  Stop compromising and really take a look at creating consequential thinking in our students and children. As the years went by more changes occurred; metal detectors in school, greater incidence of violence, bullying increased, teenage suicide went up, cyber-bullying became the new hobby horse as we entered the communication age, and basically the wheels began to fall off in terms of discipline and consequence.

As I spoke about what needed to be done it became more and more difficult to impose consequences because of the intergenerational tendencies of angry and irate parents and the pressure that they put on teachers and administration. Some schools as we speak don’t even allow their students to serve a detention for tardiness to class.  When I presented my thoughts on all of the above at conferences and in-services the response was:

What the hell, are you kidding me, we can’t do that!

I have written books on topics like bullying, power struggles, lying, respect, responsibility, relationships, gossip, and strengthening the victims of bullying. I have co-designed The Bully Proof Classroom a graduate course which is taught at two different colleges and is part of a master’s program. I have consulted, blogged about it, and have over 70 products that address the issues.

The purpose of Burns’ Bench is to help provide solutions to problems that teachers face every day. But, do go on notice that some solutions are extremely tough and are not quick fixes. Rather an approach that over the long haul will provide permanent help, not temporary relief.

I am revisiting Anti Bulling 101 to start and will be presenting problems and suggestion. We all own these problems but right now they are on my bench and I to really want to dig in and take a look at them, so the issues that we now face in education won’t continue to escalate for years to come. Check back every morning for updates from Burns’ Bench.