Believing that the teacher-student relationship is very similar to the parent-child relationship in terms of its hierarchical nature, Dr. Gordon applied the same philosophy and skills of Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.) to the teacher-student relationship and that course became Teacher Effectiveness Training (T.E.T.).
Maximizing Teaching-Learning Time
The goal of T.E.T. is to create the maximum amount of time for students to learn and teachers to teach. As every teacher knows, learning stops when students have problems and teaching stops when students cause teachers problems. For teachers to be successful, they need a set of relationship skills. These include skills for helping students to solve their own problems so they can learn more and skills for effectively solving problems teachers have with disruptive student behavior that makes teaching difficult.
T.E.T. offers a model for effective relationships in the classroom so that the time of both teachers and students is spent more profitably and with a greater sense of satisfaction and achievement for both. The T.E.T. skills enable teachers to have teachable hours and teachable days, not just teachable moments.
The Behavior Window and the T.E.T. Skills
Dr. Gordon developed a conceptual framework which he called the Behavior Window to assist teachers in recognizing problems that interfere with teaching and learning and then accurately figuring out who “owns” that problem. Then they can determine which communication skill to use to resolve it.
When the problem belongs to the student, teachers can Active Listen. Active Listening lets the student know that the teacher understands and accepts what they are saying and feeling. It gives the student a chance to ventilate, to feel relieved, to have catharsis. Active Listening keeps the responsibility with the student and allows them to do their own problem solving.
Teachers have the right to get their needs met too. And sometimes their students’ behavior interferes with that right. T.E.T. offers a skill for teachers to assist themselves in reducing the unacceptable behavior of students. It’s called an I-Message and it is a non-blameful, non-judgmental way of letting the student know what s/he has done to cause a problem for the teacher. An I-Message influences students to respect the teacher’s needs. It motivates students to modify their behavior when this behavior is preventing the teacher from getting his/her needs met.
Then there are times when a conflict exists between a teacher and student so they both “own” the problem. T.E.T. offers a method for resolving such conflicts called No-Lose Conflict Resolution. In contrast to the win-lose posture, this is a no-lose or win-win approach. Instead of a power struggle in which someone wins and someone loses where the inevitable result is resentment, retaliation and fractured relationships, this method takes the needs of both the teacher and student into account. Using a six-step process, they work together to find a mutually acceptable solution.
T.E.T. is a total system of proven, tested, learnable skills and methods that can help teachers make school an experience in which both teachers and student can work together with mutual respect for each other’s needs.
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