Discipline Principles

The following are some principles on which you might base your discipline plan. Consider them as you determine how to best work with your students.

Dealing with student behavior is part of the job. Discipline should have as much energy and enthusiasm as content.

Always treat students with dignity. This is the most important element in discipline. Treating kids with dignity works for you. Not using dignity can work against you.

Students must learn to accept responsibility. When a student tries to shift responsibility to others, guide him/her to accept it as his/her own. A student, who says, "My parents forgot to sign my paper" should be encouraged to reword the sentence to, "I forgot to get my paper signed."

All interventions can stop misbehavior. More important is what happens later to

• Motivation for learning
• Student's sense of responsibility
• Student dignity
• Student-teacher communication

Discipline in a manner consistent with your own belief system.

Guidelines for effective discipline

Monitor student behavior

• Use an "active eye". See what is going on. Don't become preoccupied with someone or something and ignore the rest of the class. It's said that one teacher on his/her feet is worth two in the seat. This benefits your discipline program as well as being an effective teaching strategy.

Be persistent and consistent

• Students must know what to expect and they need to hear those expectations many times before they become internalized. So be patient and repeat yourself often.
  
  
• Enforce every consequence you give. If you tell a student there will be a consequence for some behavior, then follow through with the consequence. This is very, very important if you want students to respect you.
  
  
• Never give a consequence you can't enforce. In other words, don't threaten a detention if you know you won't be there to follow through on it.

Promptly manage inappropriate behavior

Effective classroom managers know that misbehavior must be handled immediately or there is a risk of snowballing. The following are some strategies you can employ to reduce disruption with the fewest negative feelings.

EYE CONTACT
Simply looking the student directly in the eye with prolonged contact while you continue the lesson sends a nonverbal message that says, "I saw what you did and I want it stopped."

PROXIMITY
Continuing your lesson while you move about the room, pausing near "trouble spots" can let the students know that even though they are not near the teacher's desk, they are still expected to demonstrate appropriate behavior. Getting "boxed in" behind your desk or podium encourages misbehavior.

PAUSE
The continuous sound of "teacher talk" can provide students with a nice screen for their own conversations. An occasional pause - just a few seconds of silence - can bring an off-task student back into focus.

TOUCH/GESTURE
This can be added to the above strategies for emphasis. A shaking of your head helps stress your message to the student.

ASKING FOR A RESPONSE
Hearing our name can be an attention-getter, even if we're not paying attention. Working an off-task student's name into a question can often bring the student back to the lesson. Remembering the students' dignity, it would be appropriate to use the student's name first, in order to allow them to hear the question they'll be expected to answer. The purpose is to get the student back into the lesson, not to embarrass him/her.

PRAISING APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR
With larger numbers of misbehaving students, addressing the whole group may be necessary. Rather than addressing the negative behavior, praising the students demonstrating appropriate behavior cues the misbehaving students and reinforces the other students.

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION
Sometimes having students respond to a question or become part of the activity can eliminate the undesired behavior. Asking for a show of hands, having students role play or physically respond, or having each student write a quick answer to a question can make all students accountable for an immediate response.

REWARDS AND REINFORCEMENT
Rewarding students with an enjoyable activity that is contingent on appropriate behavior can be effective in motivating students to commit to the completion of a task. "If we can finish this by 9:45, we will have time to . . ."

STUDENT RESPONISIBILITY
Encourage students to become a responsible part of the whole by teaching them to quietly remind a talker to listen.

Tips for effective discipline

• Give simple incentives for positive behaviors. "The group that is quietest first goes first." Give, rather than take away.
  
  
• Create a warm and friendly atmosphere - the optimum condition for learning. A low, firm and controlled voice is all the "ammo" you need for most classroom situations.
  
  
• Be whatever you expect your class to be: on time, organized, prepared, cheerful, and polite to all. Set a good, responsible example.
  
  
• Listen to what students are thinking and feeling. Students misbehave when they feel angry, fearful or bored. Teachers who can convey understanding are usually able to short circuit the disruption.
  
  
• Provide instruction at levels that match the student's ability. Misbehavior often arises out of frustration if the work is too difficult, or out of boredom if the work has little value.
  
  
• Students misbehave when they feel angry, fearful or bored. Maslow's hierarchy of needs state that lower-level needs must be met before higher-order needs can be tended to.