Rooted in REAL: Culturally Responsive Practice – Thursday Edition
How to Effectively Manage Your Classroom:
7 Mindsets I Shifted From That Were Holding My Classroom Hostage
Mindset Shift #7: I Was Correcting Behavior, Not Changing the Pattern
*There’s now a private LinkedIn group to support reflection alongside this work.
Click the link to join: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/16349025/
The REAL Story
One of the hardest things to do as a teacher is not be emotional.
I don’t know if it’s because you put your heart and soul into your work. I don’t know if it’s because most days you’re stepping over obstacle after obstacle just to teach. Or maybe it’s because you spend more waking hours with children you didn’t birth that, at some point, they start to feel like they’re yours.
Whatever the reason, it usually comes down to this: you want what’s best for the mini-unregulated adults sitting in front of you.
And when they don’t listen, whether it’s directions or a simple directive, it can make you hot fast. Maybe it’s because it’s the seven-thousandth time you’ve said it. Either way, students can make it really hard not to respond emotionally.
What I had to face was this: being emotional wasn’t effective.
Responding to a slick comment or outright defiance in the moment, when it’s driven by emotion, doesn’t change the pattern. It confronts what’s happening right then, but if there’s no plan connected to that response, all you really do is win the moment. And that’s it.
As I matured in teaching, I started recognizing my own patterns.
If a student talked back, I addressed it immediately.
If someone refused to work, I corrected it right then.
If the class got loud or off task, I jumped in fast.
Not because I was being strategic, but because the behavior bothered me.
I wasn’t actually delivering accountability. I was defending my emotions.
I corrected what happened in that second instead of shaping what needed to happen next time. And because my responses were tied to how frustrated, disrespected, or tired I felt in the moment, my accountability shifted day to day.
Students didn’t know what would happen because I didn’t respond the same way each time.
That inconsistency created confusion, not growth.
Real accountability wasn’t me getting louder or shutting things down at the moment. It was me deciding ahead of time what I was going to do and then actually doing that every single time.
Once students knew exactly what would happen next, they stopped pushing as hard. Not because they suddenly cared more, but because there was nothing to debate. They couldn’t argue the response, and they couldn’t catch me switching it up based on my mood or the day.
I stopped reacting and started following a plan I had already made. I told them the next step before it turned into a bigger issue, and when they crossed the line anyway, I followed through calmly, without turning it into a whole thing.
Having a plan meant accountability wasn’t happening in the heat of the moment anymore. It was already decided. That’s what finally disrupted the cycle of the same behaviors showing up day after day.
💕 3 Moves to Shift This Mindset
1️⃣ Decide your response before the behavior happens
If you wait until the moment to decide what to do, your emotions will decide for you. Having a plan means you already know how you’ll respond to talking back, refusal, or disruption before it shows up. That’s what keeps accountability from changing based on your mood.
2️⃣ Name the next step early, not after it escalates
Accountability works better when students know what’s coming while they still have a chance to redirect. Saying the next step out loud, calmly and clearly, removes the surprise and takes the emotion out of the exchange. It also gives students a choice before it turns into a power struggle.
3️⃣ Follow through the same way every time
The power of accountability isn’t in the consequence. It’s in the consistency. When your response looks the same on a calm day and a rough one, students stop testing because there’s nothing left to figure out. That consistency is what breaks the cycle of repeated behavior.
Close
What really changed wasn’t the students. It was me realizing I didn’t want to spend every class period on edge, waiting for the next thing to set me off. Reacting kept me tired, tense, and stuck dealing with the same behaviors over and over again.
Having a plan meant I didn’t have to stay emotionally locked in all day. I knew what I was going to do, students knew what was coming, and I stopped carrying every moment home with me. That alone was enough to tell me this way was better. Not easier. Just better because it was effective.
😎 A strong mindset is more powerful than any strategy.
New and Early Career Teachers Navigating Urban Settings Group
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reminded how rarely teachers are given space to slow their thinking down and talk through the work without being handed another strategy. Because of that, I opened a free, private LinkedIn group for new and early-career teachers navigating urban classrooms.
This is not coaching or PD. It’s a reflection space — a place to talk through what you’re implementing, hear how other teachers are thinking, and not feel alone in the work.
You can request access here:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/16349025/
(Manual approval is on to protect the space.)
Tiffany Smith, Ed. D., Culturally Responsive Math Specialist
Founder, Education Evolution, LLC | Creator, The REAL Framework™ | Creator of Mind the Gap Curriculum™
Know someone who’d find this helpful? Forward this email to a colleague or friend who’s passionate about creating real change in the math classroom.
Or tell them to sign up with this link: https://education-evolution.kit.com/a3118d8126
