Reviews for Dealing with Difficult Teachers

The average rating for Dealing with Difficult Teachers based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-01-21 00:00:00 Roger Brown There are 6 areas where teachers may pose difficulty: 1. Negative classroom behavior 2. Negative staff influence 3. Negative public impact 4. Resistant to change 5. Dampen enthusiasm/school climate 6. Parade students to the office The golden rule: Always treat difficult teachers as though the rest of the staff was in the room.Always look for opportunities to "catch" the ineffectual teacher doing something right. Rule of Thumb: Take one initial chance praising a difficult teacher publicly. Continue to praise him/her only if the initial praise leads to improvement. Recognize that it's okay (and often necessary) to raise the discomfort level of difficult teachers in order to effect change. This can be done by empowering superstar teachers, using peer pressure, and reducing staffroom negativity. Principals need to help difficult teachers accept responsibility for their classes and students. Move them from Circle of Concern to Circle of Influence. Staffroom griping is a learned behavior, so clearly articulate your disapproval of it and use peer pressure to ensure it's perceived as not a part of the school climate. Reduce the comfort level of negative teachers at staff meetings by splitting them up, re-arranging the room set up, etc. Delay approaching a teacher who has done something inappropriate. Approach him/her when you are ready - to prevent you from being emotional, to give yourself time to formulate a plan, and to raise the teacher's level of discomfort. When questioning a teacher about inappropriate behavior, ask open-ended and leading questions to make the teacher do the talking (eg. Tell me a little bit about your classes yesterday.") Three types of influential difficult teachers: - The apple-polishing back stabber - The town crier - The saboteur Always remain calm and professional when faced with confrontation by naysayers and negative leaders. Everybody knows the principal is in charge, so don't engage in public arguments to prove you're right! A more effective way to reduce the influence of negative leaders is to "break up the group" - reduce the number of followers. And make every attempt to work on the followers one at a time. Consider "shuffling the deck" to minimize the influence of negative leaders (eg. re-arrange classroom assignments, lunch and prep periods to split up negative leaders and their followers. Golden Rule #2: Always treat difficult teachers as though they want to do what is right.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-07-29 00:00:00 William Mcgowan Great read! Concise, practical advice for any principal at any school. Points were backed up by scenarios in which strategies were used. Very helpful.