What a school year it’s been! Multiple hurricanes, a rash of disruptive threats, a bio lab explosion and now it’s the holiday phase of the year!
Disruptions to the calendar become distractions to learning. This year has been an obstacle course for developing a rhythm within schools. Why is that rhythm so important?
Behavior. Nearly everything comes back to behavior. We have a percentage of people in our school family whose commitment and consistency of effort transcends distractions! They are all in and distractions don’t effect them very much.
The problem is that percentage is relatively low. Normal distribution suggests that it’s about 16% of your students, 16% of your teachers. There’s another 16% on the other end of the scale whose commitment and consistency aren’t great even in ideal circumstances. The 68% in the middle, as always, are subject to conditions.
In other words, the math be mathin’ and it’s never in your favor as the school administrator. There are always more students than teachers, more teachers than administrators. Because we need them to be committed and consistent in their behavior, we rely on habits — routines, rituals, and rhythms– to influence the behaviors of the middle 68%.
When we’re talking “behavior,” that’s not just adhering to the student code of conduct; it’s also degree of effort. Behavior (in those two realms) can be influenced by the culture of the school but also is subject to other factors like habits, or the absence of them.
Teaching expert Harry Wong says that when students are away from school for periods of time (like holidays, for example) that it’s best to rehearse the rituals and routines when they return (rather than be frustrated when they don’t do it on their own).
Research published in Personality and Individual Differences indicates that only about 20% of people demonstrate consistently high levels of self-control and self-discipline across various aspects of their lives . In School World, we probably don’t reflect enough on how powerful the habit-building practices are that we develop in our buildings.
So, what for now then? Focus. Work to get your teachers and students to narrow their focus to today’s actions, to this morning’s tasks and build momentum each day. Work to be consistent yourself as to teach your people to be the same.
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