My experiences with Tasha reveal the devastating effect of deficit thinking on our students, especially minorities and students with academic challenges. Tasha was both. Under deficit thinking, she was categorized as a student with bad behavior and no chance of succeeding on the state standardized test. She was viewed as a problem, rather than as a student who could learn.
My success with Tasha began with my husband asking me what I would do if I didn’t know her reputation. That question reoriented me away from deficit thinking and toward servant leadership. Instead of bracing myself for conflict with Tasha, I focused on how I could meet her needs.
But that was just the beginning.
The Classroom Management Revolution
I refined my new form of classroom management throughout the rest of my years as a classroom teacher. However, one of the things that kept bothering me was that I was the only person who knew about it. I wanted other teachers to know about this type of classroom management, so that together we could increase the number of students who could benefit from it.
Even after I left teaching, my new method of classroom management filled my brain.
I pursued a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership so I could develop my classroom management into a coherent system that could be taught to other teachers. I learned about leadership frameworks and philosophies. I learned what works and what doesn’t. I also learned that my framework was a new variation of servant leadership, and I have learned how to distill my ideas into a teachable leadership framework.
While studying for my Ph.D., something unexpected happened that changed the form of my framework. My husband, whose question had originally started me on the path to developing my framework, passed away. I was devastated, but I was determined that his death should not stop me from developing my framework. (He wouldn’t have wanted that for me, either.) When the time was right, I joined a life coaching community for widows. The tools I have learned in that community helped me continue on my chosen path.
More than that, life coaching was the element I was missing for teaching my framework to other teachers.
The Classroom Management Revolution is classroom management coaching for teachers. It is a six-month program where I teach you the tools to revolutionize how you manage your classroom.
Join me for a free information session about The Classroom Management Revolution on Saturday, February 21 at 2:00 p.m. EST or Saturday, February 28 at 2:00 p.m. EST (or both!)
The Revolution begins March 1.
Classroom Management School 