Foreshadowed is Forewarned

By Cindy Reitzi

October 2003

My friend, Karen, who is a businesswoman, just finished sitting for a 10-year-old over the weekend. After numerous incidents of limits-testing, she was happy to return the child to his parents. She concluded, “I would rather negotiate million-dollar contracts than have to negotiate with a 10-year old.”

Now there are some who would shrug and say, “What did you expect? 10-year olds test limits. They just do.”

The problem with this glib pronouncement is the central conundrum of the inexperienced: You don’t necessarily know what to expect. The “What-did-you-expect?” principle applies to individuals who have enough experience to anticipate.

In the classroom, teachers get themselves in binds by not foreshadowing how a lesson or a situation will play out, either because they’re having a bad day or because they lack experience to foresee outcomes.

One of the hard parts about being a beginning teacher is setting yourself up. One young teacher, “Mr. Smith,” was working with a difficult, bright ED student named Brent who was famous for his “sass” and his verbal meanness to vulnerable students. Mr. Smith got to the end of his rope one day and delivered that famous teacher cliché: “One more peep outta you and you’re staying after school.” (Never use clichés on bright students, it only encourages them.)

Later that day, a veteran ED teacher relayed the story to two seasoned veterans.

“So after Smith said, ‘One more peep out of you’… guess what Brent said?”

“Peep,” said the other veterans in unison.

“Yup. He’s after school right now.”

Clearly, the veterans knew a come-on line when they heard one.

The way teachers avoid the “Boy,-were-you-asking-for-it” corollary to the “What-did-you-expect?” principle is a combination of intuitive skills, solid class structure (usually after years of teaching the subject), and enforced policies that correspond to their values and pedagogical goals as teachers. This kind of foreshadowing skill comes from experience and skill as a teacher. These teachers make it look easy. But scratch the surface and you’ll also find more than a few students inspired this knowledge.

This year I had a unique vantage point. Instead of in front of the class, I was in the audience as an academic special education assistant. I observed other teachers start their school year and I got some ideas on what I don’t anticipate when I teach. I also learned what teachers value (honesty, goal-setting, respect, organization, order, hard work) by how they “set the tone” for the year and how they structure their classes. I’ve been taking notes.

The first day or two, teachers present their policies. Most of the expectations are consistent, standard operating procedures: grading policies, unexcused absences, tardiness, homework and extra credit. But the psychological touches teachers add really show their style.

One teacher rewards students with good work habits (no doubt, a chief value of his). While he deducts points for skips and tardiness, he does give one “free” unexcused tardy per quarter (everyone can have a bad day). Mostly, he rewards students who always attend on time and work hard with 20 extra credit points on their final exam. Along with this teacher’s class structure, this probably motivates most students to come on time and work hard.

My personal favorite is the “double deadline” ploy which resolves a number of headaches since there is a built-in time extension. The first deadline is the real one. If students turn in their work on this date they get bonus points for timeliness. The second deadline (about three to five days later) is the last date the assignment is accepted for full credit. So when students (or parents) ask for an extension of the deadline, you smile and say, “You already got one.” Most teachers have some version of this, but like a gourmet meal, I like the presentation.

This teacher also employs the “pass guarantee.” Let’s say you’re a struggling student with poor study skills. Come to class on time every day, work hard, do all your homework and study for tests, and he guarantees you’ll pass. (Of course, these are the habits of students who are passing, and, barring learning disabilities, if struggling students were doing all these things, they would be passing.)

So much of teaching is not just interpersonal, but also political and structural. Learn this lesson and you may minimize some of the irritants and maximize the pleasures of teaching. Foreshadowed is forearmed.

Posted September 30, 2003