10 Reasons Why You Should Never,
Ever Yell At Students
Without spot-on
classroom management, dealing with unruly students can be maddening.
And when you do, when
you yell, scold, and wag your finger, you’re often rewarded with immediate
improvement.
A thorough dressing-down
can stop misbehavior in its tracks. But the price is exorbitantly high.
Yelling is a costly
mistake.
Here’s why:
1. Improvement is temporary.
Yelling only works in
the moment. Like a playground bully, it’s used to intimidate students into
compliance. The only reason why it works is because the teacher has an unfair
size and/or authority advantage.
2. It doesn’t change behavior.
Behavior only changes when students want to
behave better–which is the result of strict accountabilitycombined with a teacher they like and trust. In the end, yelling
causes more misbehavior, not less.
3. It weakens your influence.
Yelling will cause students to secretly dislike you, distrust you, and desire to disrupt your class. Let’s face it.
Even one revengeful student can make your life miserable. You need your
students on your side.
4. It replaces real accountability.
Teachers who yell tend
to do so instead of following their classroom management plan. Students learn
quickly that if they can endure their teacher’s outburst, they can be on their
way without being held accountable.
5. It sabotages real accountability.
Teachers who lecture, yell, or scold while
escorting students to time-out, drive a wedge through the teacher/student
relationship, causing anger and resentment. So instead of sitting in time-out
and reflecting on their mistake, your students will be
seething at you.
6. It causes students to tune you out.
When you yell, you
train your students to listen to you only when you raise your voice. In other
words, they learn that unless you’re shouting, you must not really mean it.
Before you know it, you’ll be giving directions like a carnival sideshow
barker.
7. It’s stressful.
Yelling is a sure sign
that you let misbehavior get under your skin. It’s an expression of
frustration, of taking behavior personally, and of trying to get even with
students. It’s also terribly stressful. It’s bad for your health. And it makes
teaching a cheerless slog.
8. It’s difficult to defend.
Yelling at students is near the top of the
list of parent complaints. And it’s difficult to defend. “I’m sorry, I just lost my cool”
is about the best you can do. The fact is, no misbehavior, and no level of
disrespect, warrants yelling at students.
9. It’s graceless.
Have you ever seen
yourself on video losing your cool? Probably not, but one thing is for sure: it
ain’t pretty. You might as well grab a megaphone and shout, “Hey
everybody–students, fellow teachers, administration–I don’t have control of my
class!”
10. It provides a poor model.
Students are more
influenced by what you do than by what you say. When you yell, react
emotionally to misbehavior, or otherwise lose your composure, you provide a
poor model for your students for how to behave when things don’t go their way.
Instead Of Yelling…
No matter how
frustrated you may get with your students, yelling should never be an option.
Although it often works in the moment, the cost of gaining momentary control is
much too high.
So instead of being that teacher,
the one with the reputation for yelling and for “being mean,” why not be the
one that every student wants as their teacher?
To start, create a classroom management plan that works–and stick with it. And then work on building
influential relationships with students; the kind of personal leverage that
causes them to want to behave.
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