Power Struggles

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Power Struggles

Technique:

The teacher can short-circuit the power struggle by knowing the student's motives and methods for fulfilling needs.
A classroom engaged in a power struggle has no teacher
When the wind blows, take the sail down!

Procedures:

Walk into the classroom an adult.
Have your discipline program well in mind and well in hand, then begin.
Enlist the cooperation of the students by letting them know all the parts of the program, by making the program a positive, rewarding system which provides feeling of positive regard and the comfort of knowing the limits and knowing that consistency tempered with recognition of individual needs will be in place.
Let the students know repeatedly that real freedom is control of the self and that you really want to help them become "free".
Nurturance is the natural stance of the A master Teacher. It is also the natural partner of good discipline. Use discipline to "free" yourself to be nurturant, supportive, caring.

Many educators are afraid license and anarchy will result if they do not enforceâ compliance. But countless difficulties result from such ill-advised efforts to press students into submission. Students become only more defiant, for their cooperation cannot be gained through humiliation and suppression. Without realizing it, the teacher becomes more interested in her own power and authority than in the welfare of the children. As soon as a teacher becomes resentful, frustrated, annoyed, she stops being a leader and an educator and becomes just a fighting human being, fighting for her right, her position, prestige and superiority. No psychological understanding or self-evaluation is then possible. The teacher is in no condition to recognize that her actions may be responsible for the studentâs behavior. p. 68

From: Dreikurs, R. (1968). Psychology in the classroom. New York: Harper & Row.

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E-mail J'Anne Ellsworth at Janne.Ellsworth@nau.edu

Course Created by J'Anne Ellsworth & Center for Technology Enhanced Learning