When is sarcasm appropriate in the classroom?
You know the answer: Never. Then let’s never use it in our classrooms.
**
Who decides how many arguments you get into in a week?
The answer, of course, is that we do. We never win an argument with a student. As soon as it starts, we have lost. If their peers are watching, they cannot afford to give in. We would like to win the argument, but they have to win the argument. (Plus, I have always felt that in all student–teacher interactions, there needs to be at least one adult, and I would prefer that it be the teacher.)
**
Outside of a true emergency (“Watch out for the acid!”) when is an appropriate time and place for yelling?
Again, we know the answer is never. The students we are most tempted to yell at have been yelled at so much, why on earth would we think this would be effective with them? Therefore, we do not yell at students.
Effective teachers choose wisely from their bag of tricks.
