Definition of Practice: repeated exercise in or performance of an activity or skill so as to acquire or maintain proficiency in it.
Practice Management: 1. It involves all the details of your practice while being mindful of the purpose of your practice 2. Coordination of people to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively
Don’t let anyone kid you, Lisa. It is the management of student behavior that is driving teachers out of the field, or more precisely, how teachers are managing student behavior that is the problem. Your article tells how teachers have become counselors, nurses, etc., but the first task mentioned is “managing behavior.” I disagree this is the problem, for if we were able to manage behavior, the other stresses mentioned would pale in comparison. It is the “mis”management of student behavior that is the stake in the heart of teaching. So why are we unable to manage this problem called “behavior”? It is because the vast majority of teachers have not been given a plan, a goal, an aim… any direction. They are “flying dark” or “by the seat of their pants.”
For those who doubt that classroom “mis”management is our #1 problem, imagine this: You have just been assigned a class of students who do their homework, ask reasonably intelligent questions, stay for extra help and study for all their tests. They are polite and respectful to each other as well. Would working in this environment be a problem? I hardly think so. Would teachers have daily stresses creating lessons for these students, or calling their parents, or listening to their problems? Absolutely not. Why, or better yet, what is missing? Poor and uncontrollable behavior is not part of this picture.
But how does that behavior (and the stress that follows) creep into classrooms? Are there teachers in unruly schools who have everything under control? Of course. Why? It is because they have learned to separate the “practice” of teaching from the “practice management” of teaching. This is the goal of practice management consulting for teachers. Teachers are taught what to teach, and how to teach it, but are rarely (if ever) told how to actually “manage” their classrooms. (Current “classroom management” is as feckless as fecklessness itself.)
Let me explain. Doctors and lawyers learn their profession in school, just like teachers do. They come out, open an office and money rains down upon them (sometimes.) More often, they struggle, fail and need help. They (I know because I was there years ago) enlist the services of practice management consultants who are expert in their respective fields to show them how to be successful. These consultants have been there and done it successfully and show them how to recreate their own success for these professionals.
But teachers are not given access to consultants such as this (though this is what I do.) If they did, we would be seeing the same success in schools that we see in other professions. You might say, “But doctors and lawyers do not have management issues like we have with students.” And you would be very, very wrong. Poorly managed offices have unhappy workers, dissatisfied clients and patients as well as issues with those who “hold” their licenses. The difference is that these are in the minority. Most doctors and lawyers have learned to “manage” their practices, thereby “managing” their patients and clients. It is the difference between practice and practice management. (Teachers now get coaches and mentors, but if these individuals were able to correct our problems, we wouldn’t lose our teachers as we do, would we?) We need professional teacher/business consultants.
So in short Lisa, it is not the school where one teaches, it is the separation of practice from practice management. One last point, practice management does not deal with perfecting your lessons, maintaining your bulletin boards, assigning seats properly, differentiating correctly, scaffolding skillfully, or using the correct ratio of technology and “pencil and paper” tools. It is the same set of principles that every other professional uses in their office (their business): goal setting, statistical analysis, prioritization and time management. Unfortunately, many schools are still unwilling to merge sound business practices with classroom management.