By: Samantha Matthies

 A clinical psychologist  Founder of Gordon Training International (one of the largest human relations training organizations in the world).  Over 2 million people have taken his training programs worldwide.  Received the American Psychological Foundation’s Gold Medal Award for Enduring Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest.

 Parent Effectiveness Training (1970)  Teacher Effectiveness Training (1974)  Leader Effectiveness Training (1977)  Discipline That Works: Promoting Self- Discipline in Children (1989)

 Gordon saw classroom discipline as being greatest achieved by aiding students in acquiring an inner sense of self-control.  Of reward and punishment Gordon wrote, “Using rewards to try to control children’s behavior is so common that its effectiveness is rarely questioned…the fact that rewards are used so often and unsuccessfully by so many teachers and parents proves they don’t work very well…”

 Gordon believed the only way of achieving student self-control in the classroom was if the teacher gave up his/her controlling power over the students.  Gordon says, “You acquire more influence with young people when you give up using your power to control them… [and] the more you use power to control people, the less real influence you’ll have over their lives”.

 Gordon believes in using I-Messages rather than You-Messages.  Examples of an I-Message: I cannot focus when there is so much noise in the room  Examples of a You-Message: You boys need to be quiet, you are making too much noise. *You messages exhibit blame*

1.) Influence rather than control 2.) Preventive skills 3.) Determining who “owns the problem” 4.) Confrontive skills 5.) Helping skills 6.) No-lose conflict resolution

 Controlling activates student’s coping mechanisms (fight, flight, and submitting)  Using non-controlling mechanisms do not cut off communication and student cooperation.

 Use preventive I-messages- to influence students’ future actions.  Collaborative rule setting- students and teachers work together to decide how to conduct themselves and come up with classroom rules  Participatory classroom management- teachers share power with students in making decisions. (classroom arrangement, rules, activities, seating, ect.)

 Gordon explains that the individual who is effected by the problem is the one who “owns the problem” making it their job to handle the confrontation.  Example: If a child is misbehaving in accordance to what the adult wants, the adult owns the problem.  Example: If a child is being picked on by other children, the child being picked on owns the problem.

1.) Modifying the physical environment, rather than the student 2.) Send I-messages regularly 3.) Shifting gears

 Use the right types of listening skills  Passive listening: the teacher shows he/she is listening by verbal cues, but is mostly silent  Door openers: invite students to discuss their problems  Active listening: the teacher mirrors back what the students says

 Preaching  Advising  Lecturing  Criticizing  Name calling  Analyzing  Praising  Reassuring  Questioning  Withdrawing

 As future teachers we will be dealing with these sorts of issues every single day and need to establish what we believe is appropriate and inappropriate for our classroom. Get into groups of four or five and discuss these questions.  1.) Do you agree that all 10 of those things are communication roadblocks? Why or why not?  2.) Do you believe only the person being negatively effected is solely the owner of a problem? Why or why not?  3.) Do you believe that giving some of your control as a teacher to your students will improve their overall behavior?