ABSTRACT
Effective teachers want to prevent misbehavior, whereas ineffective teachers focus on punishing a student after he or she misbehaves. If a child does not bring a pencil to class, they want that child to feel bad about it and choose to behave better as a result. Effective teachers understand that what matters is not whether a student leaves the office mad, and not what the student reports to his peers, but how the student behaves in the future. Effective teachers don’t need the principal to wield the sword of revenge on their behalf. They do need the principal to reinforce their expectations for student behavior and to support their responses to misbehavior. Conflict between a teacher and a student, or between a teacher and a parent—especially if it is not resolved—often leads to a loss of trust. The student or parent loses trust in the teacher, and perhaps the teacher loses trust as well.
