Complaining About Students Is Toxic. Here Are 4 Ways to Stop

Teachers complain about their lives, and their students, in copy and break rooms across the country. Teaching is hard work and complaining can become second nature. Complaining about students is toxic. It easily leads to a short career and harms the students themselves. Complaints about students lead to low expectations and subconsciously absolve teachers of responsibility when students fail. Some simple strategies, including a conscious decision to eliminate certain words and a one week complaint-free challenge, can help.

Key Takeaways:

  • When teachers complain about their students, they create a damaging “us versus them” mentality.
  • Complaining can create a toxic atmosphere on the job, so teachers shouldn’t be afraid to call out their colleagues for their negativity.
  • Teachers should consider challenging themselves to go one week without saying anything negative about students.

“Complaining about students happens in teachers’ lounges and copy rooms all over the country.”

Read more: https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2019/06/12/complaining-about-students-is-toxic-here-are.html

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Articles written by SensoryEdge are a combined effort of the SensoryEdge publishing staff. At SensoryEdge our focus is to educate, inform, and inspire each person caring for children to be and do their very best. It is not always easy and sometimes we don't take action (or we take the wrong action) because of a lack of understanding the real issues. We hope that the conversations that occur here will help in some small way better the lives of children, their families, and the professionals who work with them.