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school adults who has offered that youth the potent force of being heard. The history of disciplining children in schools has included physical abuse, neglect, shaming, physical restraints, and shunning. Most of those are now forbidden options for school adults. But their legacy remains in the impulse to punish a child to better behaviour; cause a student enough pain, some believe, and that student will choose a different way to deal with their frustrations. Only two years ago, I was in a public high school in which the instructions in the detention room were to be absolutely silent and face away from everyone, or the detention would be repeated. I'm guessing no student ever learned a new skill or improved their relationship with a teacher in that room.
An Amazing, Overlooked Option It's hard to remember to listen with the legacy of punishment echoing down the Return to Index
hallways of schools. Listening is sometimes derided as coddling or excusing bad behaviours. Despite the staggering number of students who end up in detention repeatedly or drop out (which isn't an event, but a process that unfolds over years of alienation), the impulse remains to punish. Admittedly, it is hard to remain compassionate when we are frustrated. We can easily forget that some of the very best times in this profession are when we have an unexpectedly meaningful conversation with a student. Even when we know listening can bring change, under pressure, we forget it's an option. I once worked with an otherwise strong team of middle school teachers who briefly forgot the power of listening. They were making no progress with a new student—let's call him "T"—who was disruptive every time he entered a classroom. The teachers had
Good Teacher Magazine Issue 2 2021
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