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Chapter 19: Moving Up the Teaching Style Continuum from the 4-Style “Dominator” to a 2- or 1-Style Approach

From Transformative Classroom Management. By John Shindler. ©2008

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In this Chapter

· Characterizing 4-Style Management

· Assumptions behind the 4-Style Approach

· Examining the Problems that the 4-Style Approach Creates

· Making the Shift Up the Continuum

· The Paradox of Power

· Locating the Roots of the 4-Style within the “Failure Psychology”

· Making a Transition In Practice

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the foundations and common practices of the 4-Style approach to classroom management. We will begin by exploring the fundamental nature as well as various manifestations of this approach. Next we will examine why it leads to problematic and dysfunctional results, and then finally, how one can move up the Teaching Style Continuum (see Chapter 4) toward a more functional approach and a more effective set of practices.

A Case Study of Two Teachers Using a 4-Style:

Ron and Susan are veteran teachers. Ron teaches High School and Susan Elementary. Each has their routine for teaching pretty well established. When each thinks about the students they have, they wish they were more responsible and respectful, but mostly blame their parents for their lack of motivation and bad attitudes. There are students they like, but it seems like there are fewer of them every year.

Each teacher has some creative ideas, but mostly stick to the book, use a lot of worksheets, and what might be called “busy work”. In Ron’s class, lots of students are receiving poor grades. He wishes that they were more motivated and would listen during his lectures, but he feels that if he adequately demonstrates to them that their work is inadequate, they will straighten up at some point. He complains that too few students do the homework and he is perpetually disappointed at the poor test scores. Susan watches as some of the students show little motivation, and assumes that they are just “low motivation” students. She sends students home with examples of their poor work and negative reports in the hopes that the parents will take some action to motivate their children. Both view themselves as doing a good job and the kids as dropping the ball. They take every opportunity to lecture the students on how their work is poor and they need to get motivated or as they joke, “you will be working at McDonalds” for the rest of your life.

Ron and Susan want to shake their students out of their complacency, so they use a lot of public embarrassment and shaming. They feel that if they are exposed publicly they will be more motivated to change. Classroom management includes a lot of cases where students push them over the line and therefore need to be punished. They are not afraid of the use of punishments and regularly remind students of the punishments that await them if they misbehave.

Ron likes to use his “big personality” to help control his class. He talks loud and is not afraid to speak angrily to a misbehaving student. He also likes to motivate the group with general challenges. He jokingly refers to some of his classes as his “bad classes.” Susan is more passive and uses frequent disappointment messages to modify student behavior, mixed in with occasional personal praise for her “good students.” Each teacher assumes that if they consistently “chronicle student’s failure” and let them know how inadequate their behavior is they will someday get it. Phrases such as “quite down,” and “get to work” are heard many times a day.

Ron sees other teachers treating students with more respect, but Ron feels like that is just sugar coating the truth. He proposes that they are not going to get fun and exciting lessons in college and in the real world no one is going to tolerate their laziness. And he does not think all students should go to college anyway. So it does not bother him a lot when students drop out. Susan knows that other teachers are more positive, but questions how they can get order without letting the students know what they are doing wrong. She recalls a group of students that she once had that showed her respect and did good work. Some day she hopes to have a class like that again, instead of these students that seem hopeless.

Characterizing the 4-Style Management Approach

Classroom management characterized by a 4-Style approach exists at all grade levels in all types of schools. The stories of Ron and Susan characterize two types of 4-Style management. Like many teachers who take a 4-Style approach, Ron and Susan exemplify two individuals who are very competent and on top of things. On many days there is a reasonable amount of order in their classes and some of their students are performing pretty well. But Ron and Susan are representative of other teachers using a 4-Style approach in that they feel the need to be the “boss,” and as a result there is always at least a little antagonism and stain in the room. They often relate being dominant with being in control. They are more concerned that their students adequately fear what might happen if they push them “over the line” than that the students have a clear sense of what constitutes that line. Ron and Susan, like other teachers who use a 4-Style, are comfortable being reactive and displaying anger and other forms of negativity when they feel students deserve it. Each teacher is comfortable raising their voice when they feel it is necessary. What they believe is that if they give enough discomfort to their misbehaving students, they will get the message that what they are doing is wrong. They likely have never considered the notion of “pain-based logic,” but they do subscribe to the idea that pain in the form of punishments, shaming, public embarrassment, disappointment, name calling, and put downs are useful in teaching students lessons when they misbehave. Many 4-Style teacher are like Ron in that they like to use their dominating personalities as their means of gaining control, others are more like Susan and use more subtle and often passive aggressive forms of control. Very commonly, especially for those who teach at the primary level, a favorite practice of the 4-Style teacher is the use of praise and affection, and withdrawal of that affection in the form of disappointment in an effort to modify student behavior. The result is a class very sensitive to the moods of the teacher. Given that there is little that promotes intrinsic motivation in this approach, the teacher relying on a 4-Style usually feel dependent on extrinsic motivation strategies such as bribes, gimmicks, preferred activity time, rewards, names on the board, or colored cards to get students to perform. The result is a motivational climate that is nearly entirely extrinsic, and defined by fear and desire (i.e., fear of punishment, fear of loss of love, desire for praise, desire for a reward).

Chapter Reflection 19-a: Bring to mind those teachers that you have observed that you would characterize at using a 4-Style. If they were your teachers, revisit how you felt in their class as a student. If you observed them teaching as a peer, student teacher, or volunteer, recall the looks on the students’ faces. How did they feel typically? As you reflect on these teachers as a group, what did they have in common?

The Assumptions Behind 4-Style Management Thinking

Typically, a 4-Style approach is built on a series of strongly held beliefs and assumptions. As a result, most 4-Style teachers are convinced that what they are doing is “working” and what they are not doing would not “work” (Recall our discussion of the term “It Works” in Chapter 3). These assumptions tend to override any evidence to the contrary. The 4-Style teacher tends to hold to their view of the “real world” in the face of a great deal of evidence that things could be better or that there are other paths that would lead to less stress and strain and more effectiveness. The problem is not that the 4-Style teacher does not learn, but that they are relearning a set of faulty principles that are rooted in mistaken assumptions. We know that habits are difficult to break. And behaviors that seem to “work” or work occasionally are especially difficult to change. Figure 19.1 contrasts some of the most common 4-Style management assumptions and the conflicting evidence that refutes those assumptions.

Figure 19.1 Contrasting A List of Common 4-Style Management Assumptions with Conflicting Evidence

4-Style Management Assumption	Conflicting Evidence
If I do not show strength and dominance the students will see areas of weakness and take advantage of the situation.	This assumption sounds like it is logical, but as we examine the reality more closely we find that this assumption is based on a false choice, dominance or weakness. Being clear and consistent does not require any level of dominance, but does result in gaining respect and legitimacy. Moreover, students act to meet basic needs. Observe a class where basic needs are being met, there are clear behavioral expectations and they have genuine respect for the teacher. You will see almost nothing that resembles students taking advantage of the situation. When basic needs are met, there are few problems, when they are not there will be many, and it has little to do with the demeanor of the teacher.
If I am supportive and positive, the students will assume that anything that they do is fine, and as a result will not work as hard.	This statement is certainly logical. But in human terms it almost entirely untrue. To test this assumption it only requires a little common sense and self-reflection. Recall learning situations in which encouragement was withheld from you. Was it motivational? Recall the social frames discussed in Chapter Three. When students act responsibly and make an effort the adult in the equation needs to display a corresponding degree of recognition and awarding of an increased level of responsibility, or the frame becomes broken.
If I get upset and give the student enough pain, they will see that their behavior was unacceptable and change it.	As we will discuss in the next section, this is assumption is based in a “pain-based logic.” This can take the form of shaming, humiliation, put downs, threats, victimizing humor, and most notably punishments. In chapter 10, a clear distinction is made between punishments and logical consequences. Using pain to change behavior is like using Draino to cure the hiccups. They may stop in the short term, but you have created a whole series of other worse maladies as a result. Punishments are more likely to create hostility, a desire for revenge, and a depressed motivation than any behavior change. Consequences do change behavior because they are logically related and teach meaningful lessons.

Chapter Reflection 19-b: Reflect on the assumptions above. Why do you think that they are so prevalent? Why do so many of us want to hold on to them so fiercely in the face of the evidence that they lead to dysfunction and a perpetuation of our problem condition?

Examining the Fundamentally Problematic Nature of the 4-Style Management Approach?

While teaching style is something of a relative matter, and no one style is right for all teachers, our style choice makes a difference. Different styles can produce vastly different results in practice. The practices that characterize the 3 and 4-Styles depicted in the teaching style continuum (see Chapter 4) are inherently problematic and will lead to a dysfunctional climate. The problems with the 4-Style approach are varied with many of them being rather significant. Five of the most noteworthy problems are described below.

1. Does Not Lead to Better Behavior

The first problem with the 4-type approach is that it does not work very well to produce function and/or efficiency. The myth is that with a stern “boss” approach student will be more likely to fall in line and/or be on task. The reality is that a strict or stern affect has little effect on how well managed a class is. The interest in being orderly may lead to strategies that create some degree of order, but the stern affect is, if anything, counterproductive. You might test this assumption by doing your own survey and observing the effects of a variety of management approaches. What you will likely find is that the classes where there is are fewest management problems usually are the ones with very little or no yelling and/or angry displays by the teacher. In the 4-Style class you will likely find a lot of energy put into management in the form of the teacher making threats and chronicling the unwanted behavior, but you will not see improvement in behavior from day to day.

Chapter Reflection 19-c: If you have the opportunity, survey classrooms. Listen to the noise level. When you heat a class where the teacher is using a loud or abrasive voice. Observe the quality of the classroom management. What is the relationship?

2. Depresses the Motivational Level in the Class

The second problem with the 4-style of management is that inherently undermines the motivation level of the students. In chapter 8, the pathway to a “success psychology” was laid out. There we identified that at the heart of building a sustainable foundation for motivation the teacher needs to foster an internal locus of control in the students. The 4-style of “boss management” maintains the focus of the control on the teacher as the external agent. The implicit message to students is that, “good things happen when you do what the teacher says.” The misguided assumption is that “staying on” the students helps them get more done. In the immediate short term, this may be true on occasion, but in the long term, students are robbed of their sense of agency and become more passive and dependent on external prodding each day. With the inclusion of extrinsic rewards which are popular in the 4-Style classroom, there is a further erosion of the students’ intrinsic motivation. The combined effect of a hostile environment, the promotion of an external locus of control, and the undermining of intrinsic motivation is to create a perfect storm that depresses the motivational level of each student.

3. Decreases True Discipline.

As we examine the effects of the use of punishment (recall Chapter 10), we can see that their continual use leads to a decrease in genuine discipline. In the short term, there is may be a sense that the shaming, humiliation, anger and reactive punishments are resulting in improved behavior. But what is more likely is that they students are learning to avoid being caught by the teacher. The motivation not to misbehave is fear of the annoyance of having to listen to the lecture or be the object of ridicule, and the motivation to behave well is absent all together. In most cases, what is most likely is that the climate in the class simply becomes progressively worse as the negative energy is reflected back and forth between the teacher and the students, becoming magnified over time. The reality is that the only true discipline is that of “self-discipline” and the 4-Style approach leads to a deterioration of self-discipline. The intention is that being a “no-nonsense” hard-nosed teacher will lead to discipline through obedience, the reality is that this approach leads to two choices on the students’ part – submission or rebellion. Neither of these options leads to either healthy growth on the part of the students, or a climate of genuine discipline.

4. Limits What Can be Achieved.

If one has a desire to promote such qualities as a democratic classroom, community, self-direction, intrinsic motivation, and/or a safe emotional climate within the class, it will be impossible within a 4-Style management environment. Democracy requires a shared voice. In the authoritarian 4-Style approach the voice of the teacher is overriding. There may be a pretense of democracy in a 4-Style class, but in the end the students learn where the real power lies – solely with the teacher. Community (as discussed in Chapter 17) requires a sense of collective vision. In the 4-Style classroom the vision is absent or maintained entirely within the teacher’s mind. In the 4-Style classroom students cannot develop the skills of self-direction as the teacher directs and the students learn to simply do what they are told. And while many 4-Style teachers lament that the students in their classes do not feel confident enough to share, express, or challenge themselves, they only need look at the structure of their class to find the cause. When the students do not feel emotionally safe in their relationship with the teacher, it is nearly impossible for them to muster it in other areas. As a result there is a marked climate of fear and shaky confidence in the 4-Style classroom.

5. Produces a Dysfunctional Ripple Throughout the School.

One of the significant problems with a 4-Style approach is that it puts a strain on the efforts of the 1 and 2-Style teachers in the school. The dysfunctional effects of 4-Style teaching will be felt school-wide. To better understand what these effects are we would want to ask the 3^rd grade teacher who is passed the students of a 2^nd grade teacher used a 4-Style, or the other teachers in the Middle of High School who teach the students of the teacher from another period in the day who uses a 4-Style. If one is attempting to promote a clear sense of logical consequences, intrinsic motivation, an internal locus of control and/or a sense of self-direction the influence of previous or concurrent 4-Style training will be counterproductive. The 1 and 2-Style teachers will find themselves working not only to help students overcome their personal dysfunctional habits, but also to overcome the 4-Style training that is taking place in the other classrooms. A handful of teachers using a 4-Style can greatly hamstring the growth of an entire school.

Chapter Reflection 19-d: Imagine that it is the beginning of the year, and you are attempting to help your students develop a cause and effect relationship between their choices and the consequences that have been developed for the class. You notice one of the students talking while he is supposed to be doing a task independently. You walk over to the student and gently remind him of the expectation and the consequence for inappropriate talking. He gets very alarmed and says to you, “Why are you getting me in trouble, I am not doing anything wrong. Why are you always on my back?” How do you explain this students reaction?

“But I’ve Seen the 4-Style Work”

There are likely those readers that are at this point thinking, “Hold on! I had a hard-nosed strict teacher, and he/she got a lot out of me and my classmates.” This may have been the case. There are teachers who use a 4-Style and do get results. But as you examine your experience in that teacher’s class more deeply, reflect on a couple of ideas. First, as you explore your memory in more depth, recall how many of your fellow students were frequently engaged in power struggles with the teacher. Were most students motivated to learn out of a love of learning, or out of a fear of the teacher? As the year went on, did the fear of punishments and shaming maintain its effectiveness or did students begin to challenge and/or “tune out” the teacher’s threats? Moreover, reflect on the list of problems listed above. Were these problems present in this class? If so, would you say that the means that this teacher used to gain control was worth the ends?

Second, when we recall our strict teachers we often misattribute the causes of their effectiveness. Many times the strict teachers in our past seemed effective because they were strict, when in fact they were effective in spite of the fact that they were strict. A notable example of this principle can be seen in the portrayal of Jaime Escalante, the famous Math Teacher of Los Angeles, in the movie Stand and Deliver. He was depicted in many ways as using a 4-Style approach. He used a lot of public shaming and was a very dominating presence in the class. It is easy to assign the cause of his success to his strict style. But, it is useful to remember that there were many teachers in the same building that used the same 4-Style techniques but we nowhere near as effective with the same population of students. If we examine his teaching closely we see that at the heart of his success was a steadfast belief in the potential of his students, and not his management techniques. In fact, it is likely that he would have been even more effective had he used a healthier brand of management strategies.

It is very likely that the teachers who used a 4-Style that you recall as being effective were effective for reasons other than their management strategies. It is likely that they had high expectations and did not accept poor behavior or work. It is also likely that they projected an implicit or explicit respect for you as a student and as a person. Any teacher can choose to have high expectations and demand a lot from his/her students, they do not need to use a domineering style, resort to public shaming, or the use of angry outbursts.

Chapter Reflection 19-e: Think of the teachers who used a 4-Style that you have perceived to have been “effective.” Aside from being dominant and intolerant, what else did they do? What other qualities did they have? Is it possible that these other qualities were responsible for the success that they had getting students to learn?

But What If It Is the Only Thing That Works With “These Students?”

As discussed in Chapter 10, some students, as a result of their context outside of school, and/or a constant diet of 4-Style learning environments, have become acculturated and accustomed to a pain-based logic and the use of punishments to modify their behavior. Frequently, these students will catch a new teacher by surprise. These teachers may enter the situation expecting students to respond to their 1-or 2-Style approach and what they find is that the students seem only to respond to pain and punishments. Occasionally, one is given an entire class that has been conditioned to respond to a 4-Style and a pain-based logic. In these instances, it will appear on the surface as though the only thing that the students will respond to is the giving of pain. So when we give in and engage in such strategies as yelling, threatening and/or using personal attacks, we might find that the students seem to respond. While, it is true that a group like this implies that it will be difficult to introduce a more functional and healthy discipline logic, at least right way, we need to step back and look at the big picture. Do we really want to become what is in effect “abusive” because we are leading a group of people who have become used to abuse?

It is understandable that when we find ourselves in this situation we tend to want to do something in the short-term to get a sense of order. But while being in survival mode is understandable, if we stay in that mindset, we will be there all year. It will be helpful to keep in mind when we look at each of our students who have become accustomed to a pain-based context that they are longing for a safe and sane environment. Because they do not know how to function in one as yet is not their fault. However, it is our job to help them adjust to a more functional set of patterns. In chapter 16 we discussed how to succeed with the student with a “negative identity” pattern. At the heart of this pattern is a deep-seated attachment to a pain-based logic, and a past that was defined by a co-mingling of pain and love. In that chapter, we discussed how to lead a student to a more functional self-image. The process outlined is effective for both individuals as well as whole classes.

The 4-Style approach at its core is a crime and punishment model. Behavior is discussed in terms of “good” and “bad” rather than functional and dysfunctional. It is no coincidence that we find the quantity use of 4-Style management and the quantity of students involved in the criminal justice system strongly related. In fact, if look below the surface of the students in the school that exhibit a comfort with a criminal identity, you will discover a past grounded in the pain-based logic in each case. Do we want our teaching to contribute to the problem or be the catalyst for change?

Chapter Reflection 19-f: Put yourself in the role of a new teacher that has the goal of creating a 1-Style Classroom. What would you do if you were given a class or students who were used to a 4-Style management approach? This scenario is depicted rather accurately in the movie Freedom-Writers.

Making the Shift Up the Continuum

To transition from a 4-Style to either a 1- or 2-Style management approach, it will require a shift in both thinking and practice. For many teachers who use a 4-Style approach, through the process of action and reflection they discover a set of more effective practices. This transition is depicted below in the story of Therese.

Story of Therese

Therese is a middle school teacher who works in a large public school. She began her teaching career using prototypical 4-Style Approach. Most of the teachers that she had as a student took a 4-Style approach, and she assumed that that style was what was required to teach in the public schools. Her teacher preparation reinforced her assumptions in many ways. It emphasized control and encouraged extrinsic reinforcement strategies. When she began teaching she took on what she called her “drill sergeant” persona. She was demanding. She showed little genuine emotion. She was critical and spent a lot of time chronically the failure of her students. At first she felt rather successful in so much as she was succeeding at this approach. But as the months went on she grew in the recognition that she was not getting the most out of her students. Her approach was not motivating. Her students did not really respect her. Some of them feared her, but she did not inspire them to any great degree. So she began to open her mind to new ways to improve and to better accomplish her goals of high student motivation and achievement. She began to allow students more freedom and trusted them to make choices. She showed them more respect. She gave them more responsibility and expected more accountability rather than obedience. She also began to use more logical consequences and positive recognitions rather than punishments and negative recognitions. What she found is that she got more out of the students. They achieved at a higher level. They worked harder and liked the class more. Part of this, she found, was because they respected her more now. The more respect she gave, the more she got. Something else that she found was a bit of a surprise. She found that when she gave the students more power, she actually felt more powerful. She felt that her power was rooted in a collective effort toward shared goals rather than in the students’ fear of retribution. She also found that teaching was less stressful and less of a grind. She fought the students less. In her early years, she felt a certain level of antipathy and resistance in the room. Now she felt little of that. Students mostly felt appreciative that her very organized but empowering style helps them get results.

Paradox of Power

What Therese recognized was that when it comes to trying to achieve power there is a paradox – the more we want the less we get, and the more we give away the more we get. Real power is the force that brings us closer to our goals. A leader is only as powerful as her/his ability to get results. What usually passes for power in the 4-Style classroom is an overt desire for control. As we discussed in the previous chapter, control is rooted in an attachment to a mental concept of what “we” want for ourselves. And for the most part it is an illusion. When we have clear expectations and a shared vision, it will appear that the students are on the same page, and as a result, thing are somewhat predicable. Therefore it looks like we have control. But, if we examine things more closely we see that it is not so much that “we have control” as there is an environment that is producing controllable outcomes. If we lost our students’ respect or they no longer felt any reason to meet our expectations, our control would disappear. The most powerful teacher is the one who has empowered his/her students by promoting a high level of intrinsic motivation and the skills of self-direction. In this teacher’s classroom there is powerful movement toward the shared goal regardless of the teacher’s direct efforts.

Chapter Reflection 19-g: If this paradox seems a bit abstract imagine the following two situations.

1. Your class is out of control and you are threatening them with “0” grades, detentions and the worst punishments that you could deliver.

2. You are peaking in the door of your class and observe your students working hard, acting in a manner consistent with your social contract, and intrinsically motivated to produce high quality.

In which situation would you feel more “powerful?” Why?

Respect and Revisiting the Social Frames

Another phenomenon that Therese learned was that social frames (as discussed in Chapter 3) operate in a very noticeable way. Students did not respect her, until she learned to give respect to them. They did not like her until she showed that she liked them. When she expected more responsible behavior, she got more responsible behavior. At the same time, she began to recognize the power of making students responsible for their own learning. She gave more choices, put students in more situations in which they were the authority, and her students responded with a greater sense of ownership and motivation.

Losing the Pain-Based Logic and Lose the Struggle

Therese also found out first hand that she did not need to use punishments, as she had assumed for the first few years of her teaching. For the first part of her career, she was convinced that she needed to hold on to some level of a pain-based discipline model – that is, if she gave or threaten to give sufficient amounts of pain to students, in specific situations, that the fear of pain would cause her students to behave in a manner that she wished. What she found was that it was not pain that changed misbehavior, but the certainty of logical consequences. Now, in her classroom there is little if any of that sense of antagonism or struggle that she first experienced. She always assumed that it was necessary to use punishments and that the stress that it caused was normal. Commonly, when former 4-Style teachers look back at their early years, neither can they understand why they believed punishments were so necessary, nor did they fully appreciate how much stress that they experienced as a result of the hostile climate that they created.

Why Am I So Attached to My 4-Style Approach?

For many teachers like Therese who begin their careers working from a set of 4-Style assumptions, experience, evidence, intuition and reflection lead to a cycle of growth out of the dysfunctional practice. However, for many 4-Style teachers they find that regardless of the evidence that things are problematic, they remain attached to their 4-Style approach. For the principals and colleagues of these teachers this is often troubling and can even be something of a puzzle. For clues into why some teachers remain attached to an approach that those around them recognize as dysfunctional, yet they do not, it may be useful to employ the lens of “success vs. failure psychology” as outlined in Chapter 8.

Recalling our discussion of “success psychology,” we identified three key components that make it up – and internal locus of control (LOC), a sense of acceptance and belonging, and a mastery orientation. The practices that will lead to the promotion of these qualities are listed on one side of the column for each area. Contrastingly, those practices that will lead to the undermining of these qualities and a failure psychology defined by a fear of failure, a sense of worthlessness and/or inadequacy, and an external LOC are listed on the other side. When the teacher who is unable to give up their attachment to their 4-Style of teaching examines each list, what they usually find is that they struggle to accept that the success psychology producing practices are actually preferable. When we examine this resistance more closely we find that giving up an attachment to the 4-Style of teaching requires giving up one’s “Failure Psychology.”

Chapter Reflection 19-h: To test the assumption above, survey each list of practices in Chapter 8. As you scan down the practices that are characterized as leading to a “failure psychology,” locate those that you currently use in your teaching (or were planning to use). Does the thought of having to give it up feel like you are giving up part of yourself or losing something that is fundamental and familiar? If so, reflect on the roots of that feeling.

When we feel a sense of resistance to giving up a dysfunctional practice, it is usually more on the level of the psychological rather than the practical. To explore this idea, it will be useful to examine how our views of clarity, consistency, and pain, vary depending on our psychology.

On a practical level, most of us would accept the notion that creating clarity and clear expectations is a desirable goal. The evidence suggests that it leads to better behavior and more achievement. But if we have been conditioned into a “failure psychology,” we may very well resist the creation of clarity in our classes. As discussed in the previous chapter, our minds tell us that the more we are arbitrary and random, the more students are dependent upon us. This dependency makes us feel powerful and needed. At the root of the need to keep others dependent is a sense of insecurity. Likewise, when we resist the idea of being consistent, it is a reflection that we want our class to be about “us” rather than effectiveness. When we create an inconsistent and subjective environment, we sacrifice the capacity for democratic qualities in the class to grow for our egotistic need for feeling important.

If we are having trouble giving up our attachment to a pain-based logic, the likely culprit is again a failure psychology and/or a reverence for someone in our past who used it on us. First, the thought of the use of pain-giving to create a distance between us and our students may seem rather odd on first glance, but examine it closer. Are we committed to accepting our students and caring about their welfare, or do we like feeling at least a little hostile toward them? Does it make it easier to deal with the failure by either party? Second, if we find it difficult to give up the idea of the use of pain to modify behavior, we might look for answers in the relationships that we have had with the adults in our past. Did you have a parent or guardian that you loved but that used a heavy dose of pain-based discipline with you? It might be useful to ask yourself the question, “Do I feel like I am disrespecting my parent and/or being irreverent if I acknowledge that, even if it was done with love, their punishing behavior was unhealthy for me?”

As we examine the various ego-based “persona” of the 4-Style approach, we can see an attachment to at least one element of the failure psychology, as well as a resistance to embracing the success psychology. Figure 19.2 outlines some of the most common persona that are manifested out of a “failure psychology.” These “persona” are often what is keeping any of us deeply attached to the 4-Style approach to management, and limiting our ability to move up the continuum to more effective practices.

Figure 19.2 Some of the Possible Persona by Which the Failure Psychology Manifests itself.

A failure psychology can take many forms. While at its core it has common roots, it will appear in the form of a variety of persona. Some of these are depicted below:

Drama Addict. This failure psychology persona likes it when things are unpredictable or when they have to react to external conditions. At the heart is desire to externalize LOC. Given that this persona is in it for the drama, it is essentially using the others around it. It lack a sense of self- acceptance and as a result wants to make others feel like they need to be exciting or it will not love them.

Victim. The victim persona wears its external LOC on its sleeve. Its message to students is “I don’t deserve this!” Its operating thought process is defined by a fear of failure. It is always ready with an excuse to avoid the pain of feeling guilty or inadequate.

Harsh Reality. The failure psychology can also take the form of a harsh world view. Instead of admitting a deep desire for acceptance and belonging it projects a perspective that the “real world’ is cold, harsh, competitive and unforgiving. It then sets out to create conditions that mirror these survival of the fittest conditions in its class. It sends the message that “there is no support or comfort in the real world, so you will find none here.” (See also Chapter 20 related to competition). It is rooted in a fixed ability view (See Chapter 8).

Dissatisfied. Some failure psychology persona hide behind a façade of dissatisfaction. It holds to the belief that if it projects out to others the message that “you will never be good enough,” it will protect itself from its sense of inadequacy. This persona is rooted in a fear of failure and a fixed ability view of the world.

Self-Centered. The failure psychology can also take the form of a self-centered orientation that holds tight to its own set of beliefs, attitudes, conclusions, and concepts. When its views are challenged it takes great pride in telling others that they are wrong. It maintains the delusion that given its vast experience in life, it knows it all. This persona is rooted in a fixed ability view of ability and a helpless pattern. The reality is that this persona holds tight to a fixed view because it is threatened by what it perceives as a world it does not understand. And the ability to come out of this shell to show acceptance of others is difficult and rare.

Chapter Reflection 19-i: Reflect on the teachers that you have observed who used a 4-Style approach. Did you see evidence of any of the persona described above in how they managed? Save your ideas for Chapter Exercise 2.

Making a Transition in Our Approach

For those teachers currently using a 4-Style approach who are looking to transition up the continuum, change can come as a result or a variety of pathways. Gaining a new awareness of the reasons why the 4-Style approach is ineffective and/or why one is drawn to it can be the catalyst for change in many cases. However, changing practice alone will often lead to a new appreciation for the new practice, and as a result a new set of working assumptions. In other words, change can come be spurred by either the practical or the psychological incentives that moving one’s practice up the continuum offers. This chapter should have been helpful to raise your level of awareness (i.e., why we were attracted to the 4-Style, the assumptions from which we have been working, and the harm that the 4-Style can unknowingly produce) and highlight the value and practical benefits of the use of more effective and intentional practices. However, the other chapters in the book will provide the more detailed road map to practical change.

If you discover that your long-standing attitudes and old working assumptions are holding you back or undermining what you are doing, it may be useful to listen to the resistance in your thinking. What is it that is keeping you attached to the 4-Style? To do this it will be helpful to reflect upon the contents of Chapters 8 and 18 periodically. It will be helpful to become familiar with the practices that promote a “success psychology,” outlined in Chapter 8, they will be the key to moving up the continuum. Second, as you review the chapter, notice any mental resistance to the ideas. If you recognize some defensiveness, ask yourself the question, “what is keeping me attached to a ‘failure psychology?” When you read Chapter 18, identify those areas in which you find yourself locked in negativity and/or a habitual “no” mindset. A mental ‘no’ will keep us anchored in the 4-Style quadrant. As you examine the more effective management practices outlined in the next section, recognize the “yes’ mindset at the foundation of each of them.

Making a Transition in our Practice

Once you recognize the need to move from a 4-style to a 1- or 2- style orientation, you will be ready to exchange those practices that have kept you mired in an unhealthy and ineffective situation for those that will be both more healthy and effective. Figure 19.3 outlines a series of practices that are foundational to the 4-Style approach and contrasts them to those practices that will lead to a shift up the classroom management continuum to a greater level of intentionality and function.

Figure 19.3 A List of 4-Style Practices Contrasted to Corresponding More Effective Practices.

4-Style Practice Practices that Lead to Management Dysfunction and a Hostile and Unhealthy Classroom Climate	1/2-Style Practice Practices that Will Promote the Shift toward a more Effective and Healthy Classroom Climate and Increased Function.
Accidental Practices · Reactivity · Use of subjective criteria · Social Darwinism Reduce the amount of vagueness in your expectations and the use of reactive and personal responses to students. They create an accidental quality to the class resulting in an absence of vision and clarity.	Intentional Practices · Genuine Structure · Social Contract (see Ch’s 9,10,11) · Clear Expectations (see Ch.8) Increase the amount of clarity and shared sense of purpose in the class. A collectively owner social contract is a great place to start. Exchange a shared understanding for your need to act on a whim.
Attempting to Promote Obedience · Obedience Reduce the amount that you ask for students to act out of obedience and fear of disappointing you, being “bad,” or being shamed.	Attempting to Promote Responsibility · Promoting Self-discipline (see Ch.11) · Promote accountability (see Ch.9) Increase students’ recognition of the cause and effect in their world, and that their thoughts and action are the cause of their life. As student succeed in being responsible, allow them a greater level of autonomy, freedom and choice. When they violate the social contract hold them accountable for their choices.
Pain-Based Logic · Punishments, Threats, Fear · Shame, Guilt · Victimizing humor, Teasing · Putdowns, Negative Recognitions Reduce the amount of pain giving that you use in an effort to modify behavior. Take action rather than passive aggressively giving pain or taking revenge. Consider the destructive power of words.	Logical Consequences (See Ch.10) · Proactive automatic · Student owned · Activity is a reward, inactivity is a logical consequence · Consequences should be intended to teach lessons Increase the amount of shared understanding in the class of the rules, expectations and social contract. Help students learn lessons in how to change dysfunctional behavior rather than simply giving them the pain that you feel they deserve. Ask the question, how does this consequence promote the growth of the student?
Extrinsic Rewards and Bribes · Stickers · Preferred Activity Time · Behavior charts · Prizes for good behavior Reduce the amount of extrinsic rewards that you use. It is robbing your students or their intrinsic motivation and will quickly lose its impact. What you are left with is a group of students who are addicted to the reward and increasingly act for the purpose of attaining the reward, rather than learning.	Meeting Basic Needs (see Ch.7) · Power · Belonging · Fun · Freedom · Competence Increased the degree to which basic needs are being met in the class, and the need for extrinsic motivators diminishes. When students work in a needs satisfying environment, they grow in their level of intrinsic motivation.
Gimmicks · Colored cards (see Ch.21) · Names on the Board (see Ch. 21) · Detention cards Reduce the use of shame based systems. They create a shadow of hostility in the room, and they are more likely to promote negative behavior rather than desired behavior. Most of these systems exchange a symbolic and passive act for meaningful action. They are a lose-lose in that they do not work, and they destroy your relationship with your students.	Motivational Systems · Assessing Process (see Ch. 22) · Increased Responsibility (see Ch.11) · Service Learning (see Ch 17) Increase the use of systematic means to promoting high quality behavior. The use of a system to assess the quality of process, participation, or behavior can promote a very dramatic step in out of the 4-Style quadrant. Being very intentional about promoting student responsibility and giving students an ever increasing amount of ownership can have a powerful effect as well. The use of an effective system makes the need for a deficit model system unnecessary.
Failure Psychology (see Ch. 8) · External Locus of Control · A sense of isolation and/or a lack of worth · Helpless-Orientation Reduce the focus on you as the dominant force in the room. Reduce the elements in the class that force students to fend for themselves in a hostile environment without support or structure. Reduce the focus on end products and fixed ability.	Success Psychology (see Ch.8) · Internal locus of control · A sense of acceptance and belonging · Mastery-orientation Increase the amount of choice and ownership that you foster in the class. Promote bonds among students and project and unconditional regard for them. Focus on the process and foster the belief that it is not what you have it is what you put into something that will best determine your level of success.
Personalization and Negativity · Praise · Disappointment · Making it about you Reduce the degree that your students work as a result of how they think it will make you feel. Take the personal element out of all performance and behavior related outcomes. Accept that giving and withdrawing affection is manipulative and counterproductive in the long run.	Clear Expectations (See Ch. 8) · Use of positive recognitions · Use of clear directions · Use of rubrics Increase the degree to which your student know what is expected. Show a personal caring and an interest in students, but do avoid using it to motivate. Increase the intentionality and deliberateness to your use of clarifying statements, positive recognitions, and mantras.
Teacher Directed Pedagogy · Lecture and Test · Perpetual Direct Instruction · Worksheets Reduce your dependence of direct instruction and lecture and test teaching formats.	Learner-Centered Pedagogy (see Ch.13) · Inquiry · Cooperative Learning, · Projects Increase the amount of work that requires students to think inductively, make connections, put it all together into products, and work in teams.

Above Figure 19.3 outlines those practices common to the 4-Style approach as well as a series of more effective practices. This table may provide a useful synthesis of this contrasting set of practices. However, as indicated the practices highlighted in the column on the right are explained in detail in subsequent and preceding chapters in the book.

Conclusion

While it is common, the use of 4-Style management practice will produce more harm that it might appear. It is hoped that this chapter helped bring to light some of the problems and destructive effects of 4-Style practice. In addition, it is hoped that the reader can better recognize more positive alternative practices.

In the next chapter we examine the area of competition. Competition is a powerful tool. Used intentionally, it can bring energy and life to a class. However, the most common forms of competition found in the classroom often lead to unhealthy and even harmful outcomes. The process for creating healthy competitive contexts is offered.

Journal Reflections

1. Why do you think that a 4-Style management approach has stayed so prevalent over the years?

2. Examine the list of practices described as characterizing the 4-Style in Figure 19-3. Do you find yourself feeling an attachment to some of them? If so, where do you think it comes from?

Chapter Activities

1. In groups or individually. Reflect on the teachers that you have observed that have incorporated a 4-style approach. Did you find that they adopted any of the persona described in Figure 19.2? Why would you guess that they felt the need to do so?

2. In groups or individually. Recall a teacher that you have observed that has used or is currently using a 4-Style of management. Identify three of the practices that they use that you feel are unhealthy and/or ineffective. Offer three alternate practices that you feel would make them more successful.