Your Control Comment ... 

Note: This page is also used in a different, related PD.

​Remember, the section on control was comparing the ideas of 'having a compulsive need to have control' and 'having authentic control' (more natural, less forced).
​Share your thoughts and experiences of classroom control. 

Some past comments ... 

Ange Neale
I feel being a teacher is like being a parent to all 30 students at the same time. There is a time for patience, kindness, and firmness. I feel students desire boundaries, structure, and fun. I feel these things create an environment that is based on mutual respect and care. I believe students deserve the right to know that my behaviour will be predictable, reliable, and consistent. However, it is my job to navigate, teach and guide them into a place where we are all taking care of the team collectively, where everyone gets to learn, thrive, and grow. I feel it is important for students to know we are invested in them and their education on the good and tough days.
Richard​
Absolutely 100% Ange!

Jared Skeens
Regarding Control: I must confess that in my earlier teaching years I was more 'controlling' but thankfully over my years of teaching I have found that 'control through prepared facilitation' has been more productive and satisfying. I think part was following how I was taught, part was my own attitudes that needed adjusting, and also I think part is due to the traditional approach itself lends to more of a 'controlling' mechanism of governing; whereas viewing a teacher's role as facilitator and seeking student agency doesn't demand a dictator teacher. The fundamental point is that being 'controlling' is not necessary for successful classroom management. Thanks for the thought provoking ideas and the importance of personal internal reflection.
Richard​
Well Said Jared

Samuel Rogers
I agree, compulsive control stifles engagement and prohibits agency. Without agency, students are likely to participate reluctantly and walk away with a compromised understanding.
Richard​
Samuel, that's a big fat nail hit right on the head! Well said.

Alexandre Carvalho
I promised myself when I shifted careers and became a teacher that I would never be like the Math teacher I had (lecture - notes - exercises - test). The right balance between control and agency, involves a lot of cultural changes that requires a lot of alignment from all the stakeholders (SMT, department, students, parents, teachers, etc). From my point of view, this is why it takes a lot of time and requires a strong alignment, specially to avoid misjudgement on evaluations from all parts (SMT - Teachers, Teachers - Pupils, Pupils - Teachers, Parent - Teachers, etc). I am personally working hard to find a structure that can help me find the best balance between control and agency. I hope as I move on and learn more here, I can improve the ways I approach the conceptual understanding on my lessons, in a way the students can lead their learning and development. I surely will use the table from this module as a guide for a self evaluation. Am I really doing things differently or I am faling on the trap to be the teacher I promised myself I would never be? :)
Richard​
Alexandre, you are not failing because you are willing to change, and change is a journey. Lean on Anja and the team and stay tuned ... lots more coming.

Will Martinez
Having genuine control, for me, is understanding that learners think differently and having the confidence to embrace that idea within the classroom. Encouraging diversity of thought and valuing the different ways in which mathematical problems can be solved enriches learning.
Richard​
Nicely Said, Will.

Your Control comment here ... 

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More past comments ... 

Mira Gao
What is the reason why the teachers want to have everything in control? Conventionally, educators believe that when children behave well which is a signal of concentration and when children are focusing, they learn. However, the reality is you can feel that children looking at in a hollow way which can all be derived from their feeling of being bored for already knowing this module or their difficulties in conceptually understanding. Feelings of under control of the teachers fosters a passive learning attitude among children. This week we were doing interpreting the graphs and to have a consolidation lesson we created a competition for the children. I can see how they worked as a team which made my teaching easier, and they can seek for help from other children and had some good hot discussion. And I only need to step in when they need me. This is a drastically different approach to keep everyone involved in checking and extending their understanding by contributing to the questions coming from others. I can tell how eager they want to do more this kind of maths activities and how satisfied they were when they can finish the questions with their teammates.
Richard​
Mira, I wished every teacher understood this: 'you can feel that children looking at in a hollow way which can all be derived from their feeling of being bored'. I refer to that as 'light behind their eyes' (or a lack of!) It used to frustrate me so much that I was boring students, and that drove me to change. Not every teacher is bothered by that bored look. I'm glad you are. It is so good to see you are experiencing the positive effects of 'letting to of the need to control' and giving students a sense of control. Fantastic work, Mira.

Alaeze Ugoala
I disagree with the posts on control because they strike me as something of a straw-man argument. I do not believe that I have ever met a teacher who views students as 'vessels to be controlled and filled with information', so holding that up as an example of one side of the spectrum seems somewhat disingenuous. On the other hand, the best teachers I have seen in the classroom are certainly upbeat, enthusiastic and filled with belief in their students, but they are also still very much in control of the room. I believe a more apt analogy would perhaps be that of a football coach. The coach explains formations and set-pieces to the players before they go into a match, but they do not try and micro manage the player's movements while on the pitch. If they did, the football players' own creativity, vision and decision-making skills would be stifled, and neither party would enjoy the process.
Richard​
Alaeze, your football coach analogy (The coach explains formations and set-pieces to the players before they go into a match, but they do not try and micro-manage the player's movements while on the pitch) is exceptional. I think this nicely explains where I'm coming from. Now, the question is ... as for the coach who DOES micro-manage his/her players and thwart their creativity, thwart individual genius ... does that coach consciously believe he must micro-manage his players? No. He doesn't because he doesn't think about it. His actions are automatic. 'This is the way I coach, and so this is the way I coach'. It's not until some event comes along to raise the coache's awareness, to make him realise he would get more from his players if he 'let go' of some of that (need for) control. Only THEN can he change. only THEN will he say "Oh, I used to believe it was my role to micro-manage the players." Same with the teacher with the compulsive need to control. I bet they don't consciously believe their students are 'vessels to be controlled and filled with information'. And yet, if we were to observe them in action, it would likely seem that's the mindset they are coming from. Only with awareness can they change. Beware of reading too much in specific sentences I have written, as my #1 aim is to provoke thought. It is the big, over-arching ideas that are important.

Maja Rogic
I believe that allowing our students to see us as humans who do make mistakes is beneficial for their learning process. Allowing them to create a classroom dynamic with us can bring numerous positive outcomes since they share the ownership with the teacher and take responsibility for their learning. Young people are sensitive to the energy we as teachers send and they usually respond better to friendly but fair teachers. If this is the case they will be more sensitive and caring to us on our bad days.
Richard​
Spot on Maja. Summed it up well with 'Young people are sensitive to the energy we as teachers send and they usually respond better to friendly but fair teachers.'

Waris Huang
In first my year of teaching children, I was one of the crazy "control freaks". I had to make sure every pair of ears are listening and every pair of eyes are watching me while I'm teaching, I couldn't stand any noise when students do independent Maths work, I couldn't tolerant anyone walking around the classroom to go to another group, etc. I see some other teachers do the same thing, they shout at students to make them quiet. They want students to hear and say exactly what they want them to hear or say. And when I see some teachers don't seem to control students enough, I even felt that the class is a mess and a failure. But then I reached a period when I felt exhausted during and after every lesson, and I could see how unhappy the children were. I knew I should change. So learning about dealing with control in the course is a very important experience for me. I learnt that the root and ultimate solution is to foster student agency. When they feel the control over their own learning, when they have a deep understanding on Mathematical concepts and approaches, and when they are empowered to explore and even help others, we won't need to be the "control freaks" anymore. It's through creating a welcoming and positive classroom, encouraging exploration on different approaches, questioning to challenge on deep understanding, timely recognition and praise on good behaviours, that we can really help the children. I'm going to adapt all this into my class, and next time I hear "noise", I will find out if it's the Maths discussion "noise", and if so, I will put on a smiling face and Let it go.
Richard​
Waris, it's so great to hear that this section has given you a 'revelation'. I had a similar revelation as you now know. You hit the nail on the head with ' It's through creating a welcoming and positive classroom, encouraging exploration on different approaches, questioning to challenge on deep understanding, timely recognition and praise on good behaviours, that we can really help the children.' Re - next time I hear "noise", I will find out if it's the Maths discussion "noise" ... it is actually EXTREMELY easy to tell the difference between work noise and off-task noise. I can't explain how or why, it just is. I'd have my back turned or head down and hear that 'David and Joel' were off task (just from the tone of their noise) and state "David, Joel, I'm claiming that you are off-task. How am I going?" ... to which they'd reply "Yes Mr A" My response would be "OK class, David and Joel are banned from talking for 5 minutes and everyone is banned from talking to David and Joel for 5 minutes, otherwise (whatever penalty). Worked a treat as no one else got penalised for a few students being off-task! I'm not sure if that little anecdote is in the course or not!
Waris Huang
Hi Richard, this is practically helpful. Thank you very much for the tips and I will implement and experiment with my class.
Richard​
Awesome!

Brendan Govan
As a teacher who has perhaps erred more on the side of too easygoing rather than controlling, I have started to try to split my "control" of a classroom into 2 parts. One of those parts is student safety and wellbeing. This is the non-negotiable: we don't make other people feel unsafe through either our actions or our words. full stop end of story. In this case I feel as though the teacher should be seen as "strict" in some senses of the word. In the other parts of classroom management, such as student work completion, I think being understanding and negotiating with students is much more beneficial. This is where I find much more of my own personality and "being myself" comes in The balance of these two things takes time investing into students and giving them time and understanding on days where things go wrong, while also ensuring that they feel as though the classroom is a place where they won't be harshly "judged" either by their teacher or their peers.
Richard​
I love the way you have explained this, Brandon. That will be helpful for others. Finding one's groove can take years as it is quite a juggling act. I always detested the 'X crime results in Y consequence, no exceptions' mantra. We do need to be consistent and fair but every situation and every child is different. A kid arriving at school having endured some trauma at home may lash out in class and so an appropriate yet different-to-the-norm response may be required. That's my take, not 'the gospel'. Some will disagree.

Gaby Conroy
I think this is the thing that I need to be aware of most, there is a big difference to being in control of your classroom and being controlling of your class.
Richard​
You got it, Gaby! And yes, it is a huge difference!

Tomas Sowden
Class control is a complex issue. I agree that it's important to 'be yourself' in the way you engage and run your room. 'Putting on' a disciplinary style that is not authentic likely won't work. Having said that, having clear expectations and holding students accountable to those is needed, regardless of the style. Students need to know where they stand, so they can be safe to learn and engage.
Richard​
Totally! Well said Tom.
Deb Morton​
I agree. I also find that the more you can deep dive into an individual student's learning needs and show that you are catering to them and working with them where they're at in their learning, the more they will be willing to work with you on improving their SELF control - which is beneficial for their present & future.
Tomas Sowden
That's really helpful. I agree. Awareness of needs sheds so much light on behaviour and provides an opportunity to get alongside students.
Richard
​@Deb Morton 
... wisdom!