Well hello again. I’m glad you dropped by. Welcome to teachers at risk.com. Today is ___________. An ___________ day. I’m Elona Hartjes and I want to tell you how I see it after teaching at-risk kids for 20+ years. I want to share with you what I have learned along the way that has earned me a Distinguished Teacher Award for my work with at-risk kids.

Before I begin telling you how I see it regarding today’s topic- teachers bullying students, there’s a couple of things that I want to say. First, I want to thank Laurie, Frank, Barbara, Geri and Jason for their comments about my last podcast where I argued that bullying is a cry for help, one that we’d better listen to. It’s always helpful and encouraging to get feedback and good to be able to carry on a discussion with interested people. Secondly, I want to say that on the advice of one of my excellent technical consultants, my daughter Lisa , I purchased Podcasting for Dummies and read the section about Show Note Etiquette. I didn’t know it was rude to post the entire script of my podcast in the show notes. Silly me. Just to make sure that this was really the case. It’s always good to get a second opinion. So I consulted my other excellent technical consultant, my son Chris, who concurred with Podcasting for Dummies. You do not put your script into your show notes. You include a summary of your script and any links that you want to share, and tell listeners if they want a transcript of your podcast, you would only be too happy to e-mail it to them. With that said, I’m now going to suggest that you come to my web site teachers at risk dot com to check out the links to sites and people I’ve mentioned and/or e-mail me if you want a transcript of this episode. I’ll be only too happy to send it to you. My email address is available on my website.

Having said all that, I now what to turn to the topic at hand. Some teachers are bullies, too. Just so you know, the following are my personal opinions and not those of my employer- The Peel Board of Education.

I've been thinking a lot here about the whole bullying issue, including the cyber-bullying problems so rampant now. I've been asking questions like why do people bully and what should we do to help bullies. I've argued that bullying is really a cry for help that we'd better pay attention to and that educating bullies to deal with life's frustrations in appropriate ways is better than incarcerating them where learn even worse habits. I've pointed out that it isn't only kids that bully. Some adults do, too.

Yes, some adults bully. That's not so shocking, sad but not shocking. What is kind of shocking though , to me at least, is that some teachers are bullies. We expect teachers to be these wonderfully positive role models who not only teach math, English, woodworking etc, but all those other skills like how to work well in groups, how to motivateyourself and others, how to take the inititive, how to wait your turn, how not to be a bully etc.

I grew up in a home and during a time when teachers were really respected. Teachers were right up there standing tall on that pedestal. That was my perspective as a kid looking at teachers from the outside. When I became a teacher myself and got to see teaching and teachers from the inside, the reality of the situation quickly toppled that pedestal. I was really disappointed. I remember thinking at the time that teachers as a group were just like students as a group. At staff meetings some teachers came late to the meeting, some teachers skipped the meeting, some teachers talked while the speaker was talking , some teachers didn't pay attention to what was being said etc. I didn't want teachers to be like that. I wanted teachers to be perfect. You know, something like Mother Theresa. After all I was a teacher now, and I guess some part of me wanted to be on that saintly pedestal, too. It took me a while to realize that teachers are just people who happen to teach. They are human, and humans aren't perfect. Although, I have to confess that I still expect teachers to be less imperfect than other people.

People bully other people for a variety of reasons. One reason is to control them. Who do teachers want to control? Well, obviously the students in their classes. The classroom can be a pretty scary place for both the teacher and the kids.When I first started teaching I would have nightmares about my new classes before school started in September. I would dream up all kinds of horrors about what I would forget to do or what the kids would do to me. During that first week of school, some of us would share our nightmares with each other in the teachers' lounge, and we'd laugh nervously together about them. Students would have their own nightmares about school, too. Let's face it. School can be a very scary place for everyone. Teachers worry about what the kids will do to them, and kids worry about what teachers will do to them. It's actually quite ironic when you think about it.

Maintaining order in a classroom requires a lot of skill. Some students aren't the most co-operative - to put it mildly. They have a different agenda, and it isn't sitting quietly hanging on to every word I say and then dutifully completing the work I assign. I've often thought that I would like parents to be a fly on the wall and watch the kids’ behaviour. They would be shocked! I'm sure some people think that teachers just have to teach a lesson and that's it. Well that's not it at all. There's quite a bit more. Classroom management is a science and an art. It takes a certain amount of inter-personal intelligence and a certain set of skills for optimum classroom management. Some teachers are weak in these areas and resort to bullying their students to control them. They embarrass, threaten, ridicule and use sarcasm to put kids in their "place", to make sure the students know who is boss.

Embarrassing kids, ridiculing them and being sarcastic are never acceptable classroom management strategies. It's totally disrespectful and sends a couple of disturbing messages to students.The first message is that it's ok to bully other people and treat them disrespectfully. After all, the teacher who supposedly knows best and is a role model for students does it so it must be OK. Secondly, bullying behaviour by the teachers also tells kids that the classroom is not a safe place. Today the teacher is picking on that student, tomorrow it could be them. That fear does not create an environment conducive to learning. I've seen what happens to students who are in classes where teachers have this approach. Students sit there seething with resentment and plotting how to get even. Unfortunately they go to their next class still seething and plotting , and the next teacher wonders what in the world is wrong with this kid. Kids tell stories all the time about teacher behaviour that really is bullying behaviour. How do kids deal with being bullied by a teacher? They respond with anger, resentment, skipping class, vandalism etc.

We need to help teachers meet their need to manage a classroom without resorting to bullying, not only for the sake of students but also for the sake of the teachers. As long as teachers use bullying tactics to deal with classroom management issues it's a lose-lose-lose situation. Teacher who bully lose, the kids who are bullied lose, and the school work environment loses.

Teachers who bully students need to stop. That’s pretty obvious. School boards have anti-bullying policies that apply to teachers as well as students. School boards have an obligation to stop the bullying that goes on by teachers. Teachers who bully need help, but how can we help them? I think other teachers need to speak up about the bullying behaviour. I think that parents need to speak up about bullying behaviour, and I think students need to speak up about the bullying behaviour. A teacher’s bullying behaviour needs to be brought to the attention of the administration so that the teacher can get better training in appropriate classroom management techniques and personal counseling to help him or her stop the bullying behaviour and the harm it does. I know that my Board has an Employee Assistance Plan that offers counseling and support for teachers for all kinds of problems including bullying behaviour.

In this podcast, I have examined the issue of teachers bullying students. I suggested some reasons why teachers resort to bullying, how bullying affects the teachers who bully , how bullying affects the students who get bullied and how bullying affects the the school environment. I’ve suggested what needs to be done to stop the bullying. Next time I am going to examine the issue of students who bullying teachers. Please join me then then, and I’ll tell you how I see it.

If you are interested in getting a transcript of this podcast, please contact me. My e-mail address is on my website. Also, check the show notes for links to the people and sites I have mentioned .