In her 28 years of teaching, Mary Beth Solano has been screamed at by hostile parents, hit with a rock thrown by a scared kindergartner and forced to break up classroom brawls. But never has the veteran teacher attacked a child in response.
“I would never hit a child, slap (a student) or anything like that,” said Solano, an elementary teacher in the Poudre School District. Instead, she goes “into my calm mode” to settle down insubordinate kids.
Many teachers say it’s common sense to keep cool. Yet, across the nation, a handful of teachers have made headlines for their handling of students.
Yardsticks and clothespins
In Seattle this year, a teacher was put on administrative leave after allegedly using a yardstick to whack the leg of a rowdy fifth-grader. In Ohio, a substitute teacher allegedly silenced four talkative kindergartners by placing clothespins on their lips.
And in Denver this year, a teacher was investigated after allegedly putting Scotch tape over the mouth of an Oakland Elementary School second-grader who was laughing in class.
Experts say such cases are rare and the result of the teacher lacking classroom-management strategies.
“Your buttons will be pushed. You cannot push back,” said Donna Sobel, an associate professor who teaches classroom management for aspiring teachers in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado at Denver.
Teachers who go overboard in handling a child were probably ill-prepared for the classroom, Sobel said.
She suggests teachers have strategies such as creating teacher teams to discuss problems or, in the middle of a problem, stepping back and taking a deep breath.
“You can’t let yourself model that you’re losing it,” she said.
At Oakland Elementary, the principal spoke to the teacher individually and reminded the staff about appropriate discipline for a disruptive student, said Denver Public Schools spokeswoman Lisa Schiff.
“This is not behavior that is condoned by the school,” Schiff said. Appropriate measures include sending the disruptive child to the main office and contacting parents, she said.
Schiff said she could not say whether the Oakland teacher was disciplined.
Longtime educator Isabella Allen, who has taught in schools in England and the U.S., said putting tape over a child’s mouth is “inappropriate.”
Behavior plan needed
Teachers need to have a behavior plan in place for when students challenge them in classes, Allen said. That includes talking to parents or the principal or calmly asking the student to talk about the problem.
“You say, ‘We’re going to talk about why you appear to not be having a good day,”‘ she said.
Marvin Marshall, a national consultant on classroom discipline, said inappropriate reactions by teachers are the result of “poor impulse control on the part of the teacher and the teacher’s mindset.”
Such teachers are probably thinking, “These kids are intentionally ruining my day,” Marshall said. Teachers who are able to control their classrooms are more likely to think, “This kid is impulsive. What can I do to help the kids help themselves?” he said.
Susan J. Giullian, who teaches a course on law and ethics to prospective teachers at CU-Denver, tells her students to never discipline a child “when you’re gritting your teeth and you’re losing your cool.”
Instead, like Allen, Giullian advises them to have a plan, such as finding a buddy teacher to watch the child for a short time or offering the problem student an alternative. For example, she said, if a student is a know-it-all, have them help tutor younger kids.
Jefferson County School District Superintendent Cindy Stevenson recommended a teacher be fired two years ago after a district investigation found the teacher had bullied and harassed students and parents over several years. The teacher was fired.
A learned skill
Classroom management is a skill that must be learned, Stevenson said. “Very few come in as a teacher and understand the complexity of classroom management,” she said.
Solano, who teaches English as a second language at Timnath Elementary School, said teachers have an overwhelming amount of work to juggle.
When a kid acts out in class, he is often reacting to problems outside the classroom, such as the fight he had with his parents, Solano said. And when a teacher steps out of line, there are probably other issues in his life, she said.
“Teachers don’t get into this profession to hurt kids. We get into this profession because we love kids.”
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-954-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
