Misbehavior In Nancy Webber's The Power Of Guidance

Chapter 1 of The Power of Guidance talks about the theory that teachers must be patient. In Nancy Webber 's article “Guidance or Punishment” she addresses the behavior of a student, Ryan, and questions if having more patience will help his teacher in helping him learn. She goes on to explain why she is uncomfortable with correlating this term with teaching due to the context of it being used in unpleasant situations (2). Rather, she believes that she has little patience because of her passion to teach. In her opinion, a person whom dislikes teaching and working with children has more patience. Instead, she defines this behavior as a part of development and believes that teachers should accept that aspect of their jobs. It is this key understanding that separates a good teacher from a poor one. If a teacher wants to help their student, they need to be willing to help them to find ways to appropriately display their emotions, rather than tollerate their behaviors and use patience to control the situation.

This understanding that a child 's behavior is a part of their social development is crucial

The text cautions us to not label poor choices as misbehavior. “For me, the cultural baggage of this term causes teachers to make a moral judgement about a behavior and then make another moral judgement about the child” (6). By using morals to create judgements, this means that a teacher is directly connecting the behavior to the child. This is also why the author does not agree with using patience to address children 's behavior. When we are quick to judge a situation without taking all components into consideration, it clouds our thinking and does not offer a full picture of what the child could be possibly trying to tell us. This is not a respectful way to handle these situations and can harm the relationship between a teacher and their