Parental support is key!

The creation of a positive learning environment starts at home. When a teacher has the student’s parents backing them up in the classroom as well as the principal then being able to create an positive learning environment is much easier. This was recently demonstrated to me by my cooperating teacher. In dealing with a student that was making a silly noise at the start of the administration of a unit test (during which time no talking is allowed at the risk of receiving a zero) my cooperating teacher stepped into the hall with the student and immediately got his father on the phone. The student then freely told his father what he had done and why it was wrong and then handed the phone to the teacher. The teacher let the student go back into the classroom and asked the parent if they would discipline them at home so she could let the student finish taking the test for full credit. The father was more than happy to oblige.
Last year the kids that were difficult to handle too often had parents that were in states of disbelief about their child’s behavior at school. And if they weren’t in disbelief they simply weren’t able or willing to correct behavior at home.