Gordon Training International :: School Training

Thomas Gordon

About Gordon Training International

L.E.T. - Leader Effectiveness Training

Team Member Training

Conflict Resolution Workshop

Synergistic Selling

P.E.T. - Parent Effectiveness Training; F.E.T., Family Effectiveness Training

T.E.T. - Teacher Effectiveness Training

For Leaders & Managers

Our Classroom Philosophy

Dr. Gordon's model for classroom management, same as his philosophy of parenting and leadership, is a real-world interpretation of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you. The attitude behind the model can be more easily explained with his Credo for My Relationships.

Dr. Gordon's classroom management philosophy is based on a belief that traditional power-based methods of discipline are ineffective in the long run. Punitive methods--besides not being a guarantee that "misbehaviors" won't be repeated--often are the cause of problems ranging from rebellion to withdrawal. Praise and reward, too, are ineffective as students learn to work only for rewards and not true learning, or ignore praise they feel undeserving of.

When a problem arises, a teacher's first step is using the Behavior Window, a graphic tool Dr. Gordon devised for evaluating situations and student behaviors to determine if indeed a problem exists, who owns it, and what skill can be used to solve it.

When the problem belongs to the student, teachers use Active Listening, a skill that allows teachers to really understand what the student is feeling at the moment, and allows the student to delve deeper into whatever is bothering him or her-- often a leading cause of "misbehavior."

When teachers use Active Listening on their students, it sends a message that teachers are human beings who really care about students' feelings and thoughts. Teachers thus teach their students--by example--how listening is done; they model a behavior that the students learn to emulate. Students this way learn to care about others' needs (to empathize with them) and start listening in return.

When a student causes the teacher a problem, a different skill, I-Messages, is used. With an I-Message teachers can explain to the student that her or his behavior is causing them a problem, but it does so in a non-blameful, non-judgmental manner that reduces the student's resistance to the message. The idea here is to influence the student to want to change his or her behavior in consideration of the teacher's needs (and those of other students). A well constructed I-Message encourages students to cooperate and it leaves their self-esteem intact. But more than that, it teaches them a valuable lesson in self-discipline: students change their behavior not because they fear the teacher (or because they'll get some sort of reward) but out of consideration for the needs of the teacher and of the class--because they see value in the request. This is how students learn empathy, and empathy is the root of emotional intelligence, maturity and self-discipline.

Active Listening and I-Messages work as a team. Once teachers and students have established open two-way communication using Active Listening and I-Messages, problems and conflicts can be solved using the No-Lose Conflict Resolution method. When teachers want to influence students to stop some unwanted behavior, they can propose to them a problem-solving session. Putting both their heads together to fix a problem exponentially increases the odds that a solution that meets both the student's and the teacher's needs will be found.

This process can be initiated by teachers at the beginning of the term to establish rules that the whole classroom finds fair and are willing to follow. Students are more likely to keep to their end of the bargain when using No-Lose Conflict Resolution and participative rule setting because of a simple bit of common sense called The Principle of Participation.