Rick Dahlgren, founder and CEO of Center for Teacher Effectiveness, frequently greets Time To Teach trainees with the claim, “Teaching is the most difficult job in America today!” After a swell of appreciative applause, this former teacher recites a list of job titles most teachers can add to their resumes: Nurse, Technician, Mom, Dad, Peace Keeper, Custodian . . all for low pay and undue criticism from every corner of contemporary society. Sissies need not apply.
While the nature of the difficulty for individual teachers varies according to several variables, there is one fact common to the Pre-K teacher, the university professor and classroom educators at levels in between: Many of today’s students are coming to school without adequate socialization. In large numbers, since the 1990s, an increasing percent of both male and female learners do not have training in behavior, necessary procedures, civility.
In other contexts for assessing socialization, an incentive for conforming is intrinsic to the expectations. Take the middle school student, for example, who is a handful in language arts class. At soccer practice towing the mark means more than just having “good foot.” The incentive to be a starter, top scorer, mvp, or college recruit often dictates the appropriate compliance, Same is true for the 16-year-old chatterbox in Algebra class, who self-regulates when on the burger franchise time clock. Here, the student is reminded pay is for working, not for gabbing and checking the cell phone.