High school students with no commitment make up almost half (45%) of all students. That’s the finding of a 2013 Gallup poll. Another Gallup study found that disengagement greatly reduces performance, especially among urban and rural youth. My purpose is to suggest practices that can be implemented in the classroom by individual teachers. In other articles I dealt with organizational practices and instructional practices. Here I will deal with interpersonal skills in the classroom.
Treat students with respect. That’s the key interpersonal skill. It begins at the classroom door. Greet students as they enter your classroom. I always used the student’s last name with a Mr. or Ms. “Good morning, Mr. Jones”, “Good morning, Miss Walker”. It’s a fair trade. They call me “Mr. Heiderson.” At first, students are brought back with this raised salute due to the dismissive attitude of most teachers towards disconnected students. But it works like a charm. When “Mr. Jones” and “Ms. Walker” are treated with respect and dignity, they begin to behave in a responsible manner. It is in keeping with its new status. No one rolls in the mud when dressed in their fancy dress clothes. The civil salute is the “costume clothes” of human interaction. It is the beginning of a journey to maturity.
We have a prevailing myth about change. Says so. Think, then act. Incorrect. This is backwards. It works best the other way around. A saying goes:
It is easier to act your way towards a new way of thinking than to think your way towards a new way of acting.
The action method works best. I ask students to do small acts within their capabilities. I use significant units. An example is selecting a paragraph from a popular magazine and copying it by hand. I had the students do this every day and gave them about 7 minutes of class time for it. This improves the writing ability better than the writing rules. And of course, having the student select the magazine and the paragraph gives them control over the learning. This works in any classroom. Just provide print fonts suitable for any topic: science, history, foreign language, or literature. These actions build trust and provide a sense of purpose. By participating in a common activity with other students, disconnected students rejoin their class.
Creating a positive self image for disconnected students can seem like an impossible task. I used a trick I learned when I was a graduate student in anthropology. In those days, anthropologists used snapshots with Polaroid cameras to take pictures of the natives. They then present the photos to the subjects as gifts. In my classroom, I waited until the students engaged in academic work, such as copying paragraphs or group projects. Then I took snapshots. I then presented these photos to the students as gifts. For disconnected students, this was the first time they saw themselves as academically successful. He countered the dismissive attitudes of most teachers towards them as “losers.” In my classroom they were winners with the right to respect and dignity. And I had the photos to prove it. Now instant photography is easier than ever. All you need is a cheap printer and any cell phone to take photos.
We can re-engage reluctant high school students at the classroom level. In addition to better classroom organization and better instruction, we can use effective interpersonal skills. These include treating students with respect and using the “action method” to create change. Additionally, teachers enhance the self-image of disconnected students by documenting positive activities with snapshots and handing the photos to students.