https://www.bullyproofclassroom.com
About James H Burns
Since 1977 Jim Burns has been working with students who have learning disabilities and behavioral problems. He has almost 40 years of experience working as an administrator, teacher, college instructor, and seminar leader. He is committed to helping administrators, parents, and teachers establish standards of excellence and help them build successful relationships with their staff, students, and children. He has written and designed The Bully Proof Classroom, a graduate course that is now offered at The College of New Jersey, and La Salle University in Pennsylvania in partnership with The Regional Training Center. This course has been endorsed by the NJEA. He has also written “Anti Bullying 101.” A book that provides teachers, administrators, support staff and parent’s 101 tips on how to achieve permanent help in dealing with unruly behavior and can be used as part of any anti-bullying program. In May of 2015 Jim was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by Gratz College in recognition of his almost forty years of work in student behavior management and anti bullying. He is available for on sight in-services and keynotes.
Classroom and an Improved Classroom Climate
When I was in high school I was given a assignment to do in a 9th grade social studies class. I
was given two weeks to complete it but, like most kids I procrastinated until the night before. I
turned in the assignment the next day. Many of the projects that the other students turned in were
handed in stapled together, some in binders, some with report covers over them. Mine was turned
in with a paper clip holding together two sheets of handwritten paper. About a week later the
teacher turned the projects back. He never gave me mine back but, ask to see me after class.
When I met with him he looked at me and said, “What is this.” I responded by saying, “That’s
my project.” He then asked, “Is this the best you can do?” I said, “No, I guess I could have done
better.” He then asked me, “Are you capable of doing better?” I said. “Yes.” He then proceeded
to tell me that he wanted to meet with me after school to help me put a project together that
would improve my grade because what I turned into him was most definitely and F. He took the
time to help me do research, write better, and showed me how to put a report together. He had
academic expectations that I was never exposed to in the 8th grade but made sure that he gave me
all the help I needed from him to meet those expectations. I ended up with a B+ on the project.
Thanks to him.
What actually happened here? Because of this teacher’s academic standards and because of his
demand for high quality work I developed such respect for him and had an unquenchable desire
to want to please him. I not only worked on my assignments with much more rigor, I paid
attention in class, and studied in a much more productive way for my tests and quizzes. His
demand for academic excellence made me more respectful for him and his subject area and more
responsible for my own academic success.
When teachers have low expectation for the academic progress of their students they probably
have low expectations for their behavior as well. They begin to buy into the excuses that
students, parents, and yes even sometimes administration uses to justify poor academic
performance. Excuses like, poor home environment, ADHD, and of course blaming the previous
year teacher all become part of student academic failure. Demanding academic excellence is
something all teachers can do. As stated in the previous chapter holding students accountable by
asking for the work to be done and re-done forces the child rise to the occasion and to begin to
want to please a demanding teacher. That’s a good thing. It develops respect for the subject area,
others members of the class, and most of all respect for themselves. It improves behavior as well.
By making students focus on academics there is not time to act up in class. They might miss
something and have to re-do an assignment because of yes, a careless errors, errors that would
not have been made if they took their work seriously, and respected the teacher and the material
that was being taught. Demanding high quality work pays off. The students will thank you in the
future. I learned that 40 years ago.