Here are ten ideas you can try right away
“Discipline is not the Enemy of Enthusiasm!”
Morgan Freeman plays Joe Clark
There are many prominent and highly-marketed programs that promote discipline in schools. “systems”. Some people can get involved in systems or programs, books, and structures. A real estate agent will also mention the names of different school districts on their advertisements for homes. It is determined by how stunning the building are.
The wrong focus is often on people and things. It is the truth, and you’ll have to wait until I etch this in stone, that your system will perform better than mine if our people believe in our system, and are dedicated to its success. When you listen to the argument ad nauseam for the system, it’s not the best. “thing”That was the key to the system’s success. It was the passionate and caring people who worked within it.
According to the Rules of Golf, you can have up to 14 golf clubs. You can have as many clubs as you like in the golf bag. “golf course”Do you recall the teachers who had no idea of the realities of school life? “driver”In his/her bag
We must start with acknowledging that American Juvenile Justice System was built upon a rehabilitation model when we discuss School Discipline. It starts by understanding that children – just like you were as a child – will make mistakes and are human beings. As adults, it is our responsibility to assist them in developing the necessary social skills to be productive members of society. The Juvenile Justice System is so structured, how can the school disciplinary approach support young people in improving their behaviour and becoming productive? It is expected that children will be given second and third chances. Some attempts to modify behavior may take years.
Imagine if teachers could be paid to do what they love. “fly the plane”There would be nothing in any respect. “Zero Tolerance”Policies are not the same. You would never read of kindergarten kids being kicked out for giving a hug to someone from their opposite gender. They love to be cowardly and pass legislation that will expel kindergarten children for touching someone or carrying a knife. Please listen to the media: A policy such as that would never be proposed by a real teacher- not even criminals- and the single strike baseball game was devised by politicians who are trying to win votes.
Paul Lynde in the Broadway Show Bye Bye Birdie laments the behaviour of teens “today”This phrase is posed in a question… “Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way…what’s the matter with kids today, etc.?”The quote above was written by John D. Rockefeller in a school where I was a student. “What I am to be, I am now becoming.”Everyone, please pay attention… The children you currently have or will have while you’re out teaching aren’t perfect like you! They might be able to get closer with your patience and caring, but not yet. This will cause discipline problems.
Some teachers still make their students stand at the side and either hold a dictionary or let someone draw it. “I must not talk in class” 500 times. Many times, we have heard horror stories from teachers who make sure that their students continue doing the wrong thing. Sometimes with even greater enthusiasm. Remember the Bye Bye Birdie line…they’re not perfect, but they are like you. Also, remember that this book is not a sales brochure. It is possible to buy books or take classes. This chapter is designed to provide you with a range of tools, more like 14 clubs that will help you in your discipline. “golf bag”If you want to. These strategies have high success rates and are able to effect rapid changes.
PROACTIVE Vs. REACTIVE
1. Be Positive
Most kids don’t have discipline issues within the first week or day of school. The grapevine will have given you a good idea of the reputation of many of your students. Parents who know their children are a potential problem usually also recognize that the child has problems at home. It’s not their child who drives them crazy when they get angry at the teachers, but the parents. I have heard from these parents that they were able to cry on the phone when the school told them good news. I have a message for you. It’s early in the year, so don’t panic if you see potential problems. Instead, find something that is positive and tell the parents.
You will later need their support to change the behavior of their child. These parents will recall your phone call and consider you a kind person, fair person and maybe even the first person in their school district to say something nice about their child. You can start by saying “Hi, I’m calling you later.” “Hi Mrs. Smith. This is Mr. Jones from the school. You probably remember that we talked when I called you about the nice thing your daughter was doing in my class.”You will then hear Mom say, “Yes, I remember you.” Then you will say: “I need your help with something.”You can then explain to your daughter the problem with discipline and ask her whether she would like to help. Most parents will be willing to assist you. The parents will remind their child that they actually made a nice comment about them. We want this teacher to be a friend and remain on our side. The potential trouble child might start to behave better because they realize that not only do you make negative comments but also positive ones. This example shows how a teacher can be proactive.
2. Unknown Time Out
This strategy is best for younger students and should be used sparingly. However, high school students can also benefit from it. You can make a plan together with the Athletic Director, one of your secretaries or the Principal at a small school. The Unknown Time-Out can take you to multiple locations. You can call one student to your desk and give him a colored envelope with a name on it. Tell the student that you will give this envelope to them and to wait until they respond. Then, bring back the answer.
The envelope’s recipient sees the particular student and the colored envelope. He or she then tells the student that he or her knows the situation. They take 10 minutes to write the answer, then give it to student. The student is now a “Time-Out”The entire process took only fifteen minutes, and he didn’t even know it. The Proactive strategy prevented the student being shouted at for his expected misbehaviors. He has shown responsibility and you can comment on that and then thank him. It was never the expected daily problem. The indicator in this case is the envelope and not the student. This means that more than one teacher or additional students may be involved. This strategy is not likely to be adopted by students (even high school ones).
3. Invite the principal to provide the positive
You may recall this if you were fortunate enough to have attended a Catholic elementary school in the middle 50’s. Report cards were given out every six weeks. The priest came into the classroom on Fridays to distribute the cards to the 65 students. The Priest always added some editorialization to the report cards he gave out. Even today, I still have nightmares about the Priest saying… “Daniel. Hmmm. Let’s see…My goodness, I know your Mother…The Poor Woman will be broken-hearted when she sees this awful report card.”Everyone is sitting neatly, with their hands crossed, but you can see your friends looking at each other, silently laughing, and making face. It had quite the dramatic effect.
Let’s hear it from you. NEVER LET A NEGATIVE INVITED TO YOUR CLASSROOM! However, you can invite the principal into the classroom and when he’s there, publically acknowledge the student with something like… “By the way Dr. Stevens(The Principal) Billy here has been one of my most improved students this report period- he is doing some very nice work!” – Or, “Billy, why don’t you show Dr. Stevens your excellent Social Studies project?”You have been doing some amazing work recently, Dr. Stevens. This is the principal’s cue to commend the student and to talk about how it feels to have students behave in this manner. Another way is to be proactive and reinforce positive behaviors that are not displayed often by students.
4. The Sandwich Technique
This technique is a tool that has proven to be effective in encouraging and changing behavior for people over the past 30 years. The Sandwich Technique can be applied to nearly every aspect of human endeavor. In fact, it is possible to use it together with your spouse. You need to get someone’s attention with a positive comment. Because, regardless of whether you’re an athlete, a spouse, or just a child who is misbehaving, it tends to cause your ears to close when you get a negative comment. People notice when we say something positive. The ears start to prick up. Following the positive, we say what we want to express- any criticisms or negatives and any discipline actions. This is followed by the final positive and upbeat comment. So the peanut butter and jelly are negative, while the peanut butter and jelly at the front and last are the pieces of peanut butter and jelly.
It’s up to you to decide which way to put it into practice in different areas of your life. However, we will show you the potential uses for it in schools by looking at this hypothetical:
Johnny was a misbehaving again in your class today. He is actually intelligent and working hard. While he does have flashes and moments of brilliance, he tends to be the focal point of class commotions. Recently, however, he has been doing some poor work. Make a draft of the things you would tell Johnny.
This might be the way it goes: Johnny, do you know I love you? We have had a great friendship for the past couple of months. You are the reason I talk to so many people. Your test scores are excellent and you’re one of my most brightest students. I also have seen your work. But here’s the problem: this is your fourth consecutive time submitting such poor work. It doesn’t matter if you take a month or more to complete the task correctly. I will continue to give it to you until you get it right. After school you’ll need to bring in the redo work. If you don’t improve the quality of the work I will call Mom and Dad. Is there a way you believe this could be solved? All right. We’ll get to work. But I wanted to let you know that I believe you are an intelligent kid and was just referring to you as Dr. Stevens. Let’s get started doing what I believe you can do. Etc.”
5. Divide and Conquer
In this situation, two students are a constant disruption in class. Take one of the students and treat him in a way that is a little less strident than the other. This can be done by rewarding one of the students for doing something right and making it seem as though he is not the real trouble maker in all of these class problems- it’s the other guy. The second person will not stay too friendly with the first person, and the first person will begin to distance himself from the second person. You say to the first student, “Billy, you know that I regard you as one my best students. I also don’t view you as an instigator like many students here. Is there anything you can do to help this situation? You move Billy. This is not an affirmative action. After you do this, your partners in crime won’t be as friendly.
6. A Phone Call from Class
Signal the child who is acting out to come with you down the hall. Inform the child you are carrying your phone “right here in your hand”If you see such behavior, call the Mom. The child will have to tell her Mom why it is happening. Next, the teacher asks him how pleased he believes his Mom will be that he calls her from school while she works. The student replies that he is happy to receive a phone call from school when he’s not working. “Not very happy”, say, “Right, not very happy, so I expect to see some very quick improvement in your behavior- got that Billy? This is one time where a yes answer is all that is needed. The next day, or for the next few weeks or so, if Billy is acting out, the teacher merely holds the phone up and looks at it and then looks back to Billy. Billy will understand completely. Additionally, can you imagine the effect this will have on the other students, notably potential problem individuals when they find out that someone had to actually call his or her mother from class!
7. The Letter in the Drawer
Let’s say that a child uses foul language in you class. First you tell him that this kind of language is not appropriate for class and that you and he are going to have to talk about this after class. Quietly, without any overreaction and typically after class, although there might be occasion to use this technique within earshot of classmates, you tell the student the following: You are really surprised that a person like him would be speaking like that. You then tell him to write down what he said on a piece of paper. Make sure all of the words and details are included in the writing. Then, with a flourish, you place the writing in a business envelope and put a stamp on it and tell the student that normally, this would go directly into the mail with a phone call to let Mom know it is coming. Also, you dramatically write out a disciplinary referral.
Then you might tell the student that you are going to give him a detention for his behavior, but since you the teacher are such a nice person, you are going to keep this letter and the referral in your desk for mow. If this behavior ever occurs again though, both of these items are being sent along with a second mailing for the additional offense. Then you tell the student that this will stay in your desk till the end of the marking period at which time you will dispose of it if he, the child, continues to behave properly. Like the technique involving the cell phone, if the child is starting to misbehave a few days letter, you can point to the letter or the referral as a silent reminder. The child will get the point and probably appreciate your kindness.
8. Invite Mom to come in
This is a great technique for improving everyone’s behavior because one visit to your class by someone’s Mom who sits right next to her normally misbehaving child for one or more periods and everyone will behave because they will fear that they might be next. Kids would rather have root canal than have Mom come in to sit next to them for an entire period or several periods. The process works like this: You make an effort ahead of time to establish a good working relationship with the Moms of some of your most significant problem individuals. You call Mom and invite her in because Junior is misbehaving. Mom comes to class and sits right next to her child and can remain for one or more days. Nobody wants to endure this humiliation. Do it just once and many of your discipline troubles will be over. The next day after the visitor leaves, the teacher can say… “Because there were problems that I was trying to solve, she came to me to meet you. Who’s the next?” Don’t expect any hands!!!
9. Involve the Guidance Counselor
Without fail, you will find guidance counselors more than happy to assist you in dealing with a student experiencing problems because it gives them the opportunity to do what they went to school to learn how to do. This is important to guidance counselors because, in the present national testing zeitgeist, they have all too often become the de facto assessment coordinators for their school. They have less time to actually counsel kids because much of their time is being spent checking bubble sheets, counting booklets, and filling out forms for the state as well as sifting through mountains of paperwork related to special education, for example. As a teacher who sees the same students on a daily basis, you know which students have the most pressing issues related to discipline and which ones would profit most from a visit with the counselor as opposed to a visit with the Principal or Dean of Students. Not every matter needs to go to the principal.
On the other hand, you are out there amidst the masses and you hear various stories about kids regarding things that are happening in their lives. Sometimes you have established enough of a rapport with a student that he or she shares it with you himself. Once a student was talking to me about where she was going for the holidays and matter of factly told me that she and her two sisters are from 3 different fathers and they would be going to see all of the fathers as well as the related grandparents, and even though one of the fathers used to “Beat my Mom Up”, things are pretty good around the holidays as long as he doesn’t get too drunk, etc. The child acted as though this was completely normal, and although she was a discipline problem now and then, after hearing this story, I looked at her much differently. I realized quickly that this was something that should involve the guidance counselor.
Remember also that kids spend more time around the people in school than the people at home, so you will often know immediately when a kid just does not look right which might be an indicator of sexual abuse, drug use, eating disorders, pregnancy, self abuse, etc. Maybe the grapevine knows about a death, a loss of a job, marital unrest, etc. You are the first line of defense in this process. The counselor has all of the right contacts and phone numbers of professionals that she can bring into the process. When a kid who was never a discipline problem starts to become one, or his work starts to take a negative turn, pay attention and don’t just turn directly to the discipline code page in the student handbook. You and the counselor, working together, can be a great force for changing a kid’s life- and the matter never has to get to the discipline office. Don’t be upset, however, if after the counselor gets involved, he or she is unable to share all information about the child with you. There are some issues with Confidentiality involved, so maybe all you will hear is that “It is now being looked into.” That might be all you are able to find out.
10. Careful About Examples
Do you remember the movie Home Alone? In it, Mc Cauley Culkin, the child who was left behind is talking to the old man who used to scare him. They are sitting in a church and the kid tells the old man that a certain third grader got “You are nailed” when kids found out that he wore dinosaur pajamas. If you are not careful about certain examples you speak about to misbehaving kids, you might get somebody “You are nailed”. To clarify, if you had brothers or sisters, do you ever remember hearing this from either of your parents, “Why not be as kind and considerate to your brother? He always gets the honor rolls because he does his job so perfectly!
You can set an example for your students by saying: “Why can’t you people in the back turn in neat work like Jimmy here- he is such a wonderful student?”You might be assuring Jimmy’s security. “Nailed”. It’s hard enough to be a kid in the world, so don’t make it harder for someone just because they are a good student. Even though you can have pageantry that involves awards, it is not as effective. “Jimmy got this, but look at you Billy, you only got this!”It was your parents doing it. This did not always make you feel more close to your siblings or brothers when it was done.