Disconnect - Shared Purpose?

I have never understood when a disconnect exists between administrators and teachers. We all fall under the umbrella of being educators, so I feel as though we should have more in common than not. Administrators and teachers also, generally speaking, have similar shared purposes: academic support & progress, behavioral support & progress. Alas, my experiences have been mixed when looking for consistent admin-teacher synergy. Many days I feel as though I am more successfully connecting with and supporting students, and their parents, than I am with supporting and connecting with teachers. To be frank, I sometimes feel resented by teachers when I connect/support a struggling student and/or their parent. I have scoured my teaching memories for instances of feeling this way towards administrators, but my memories are of cooperation and shared purpose (not well understood back then, but present nonetheless). On my worst day, I recall thinking that administrators should be more vigilant about catching the smokers under the stairwells...I never even thought about the consequences for the student...I was just tired of the smell of cigarettes.

Merriam-Webster defines an educator as: "one skilled in teaching" and "a student of the theory and practice of education." Maybe educational theory is a potential source of disconnect. I am aware of five (5) theories:  Behaviorism, Cognitive, Constructivism, Humanism, and Connectivism. I subscribe to a mashup of cognitive, constructive, and humanist theories. Surely our views on educational theories cannot correlate to disconnect...all the theories lead to, or attempt to lead to, learning...right?

How about classroom management theories, perhaps a disconnect exists here. Below is a link to a resource summarizing three (3) types: Operant, Choice theory, and Student-Directed learning.

• https://www.theedadvocate.org/understanding-three-key-classroom-management-theories/

These all sound reasonable...the article even mentions how these management theories may correlate to enhanced student motivation and less need for punitive consequences...a win-win!

One potential disconnect may be beliefs regarding student discipline. Discipline certainly has a role in education, as it does in many other fields. Here are a few definitions for discipline from Merriam-Webster: "Control gained by enforcing obedience or order" and/or "orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior"...these are versions of noun usage. Most school folks use the transitive verb for discipline which is: "to punish or penalize for the sake of enforcing obedience and perfecting moral character", "to bring a group under control", and/or "to impose order upon". The use of the transitive verbs sound, to me, very military-ish (Sorry Beetle Bailey). The last definition is semi-palatable, "to impose order upon", especially given that order is certainly necessary in schools, but to impose upon does not sound like a collaborative situation and a collaborative approach is most certainly the direction education is moving. Less "command and control" and more "collaborate and innovate".

Views on disciplining other people's children can be a source of consternation for all involved. Check out this article from the National Association of Elementary School Principals:

• https://www.naesp.org/resource/speaking-out-disciplining-other-peoples-children/

I am on board with this kind of thinking and action. Effective and situationally sensitive (What?!?! No zero tolerance or mandatory minimums!?).

Student "discipline" should be more than meting out punishments. The "discipline" should be incorporated into the efforts of community-building, which would include all of the above theories, styles, strategies, etc. That could bring us all together...community-building, one classroom at a time. This will involve punishment from time-to-time and if we can just get close to being on the same page, then we may be able to move mountains. I leave you with a thought-provoking article by Alfie Kohn. 

• https://www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/cl/

Cheers to community, collaboration, and innovation!