Chapter 1 Classroom Discipline — The Problem and the Solution

1. Chapter 1Classroom Discipline—The Problem and the Solution • Today discipline is valued as a basic teacher competency. A primary goal of Building Classroom • Discipline is for beginning and experienced teachers to develop or fine-tune their own effective personal system of discipline.

2. The book is organized to guide teachers through the process in a thoughtful and logical way. • Chapter 1 reviews the realities of student misbehavior, and presents a plan for helping teachers • resolve most of the problems associated with it. • The intent of Chapter 1 is to lay foundation for this teacher competence by providing readers with guiding resources; term clarifications; and suggestions, principles, and reflective questions. • Through the years many individuals, groups, and agencies have identified sets of competencies • considered essential for beginning and experienced teachers. Today much attention is drawn to competencies suggested by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) and embodied in the Praxis Series of tests produced by Educational Testing Service.

3. Discipline as a Basic Teacher Competency • Misbehavior can be brought to manageable proportion rather easily by employing three strategies simultaneously…. • First, prevent the occurrence of as much misbehavior as possible. • Second, introduce classroom conditions that lead to student enjoyment, sense of purpose, self-direction, and sense of responsibility. • Third, deal with misbehavior that does occur in a positive manner rather than a negative one.

4. Organizing a personal system of discipline is essential to a positive, productive, enjoyable • classroom where students learn and have an overall satisfying educational experience. • To this end, invest ample time to consider the following guiding resources, suggestions, principles, and reflective questions.

5. Clarification of Terms • Behaviorrefers to everything people do, good or bad, right or wrong, helpful or useless, productive or wasteful. • Desirable school behavioris that in which students show self-control, responsibility, and consideration and respect for others, and usually involves cooperation and helpfulness. • Misbehavioris behavior that is inappropriate for the setting or situation in which it occurs. • Classroom misbehavioris any behavior that, through intent or thoughtlessness, interferes with teaching or learning; threatens or intimidates others; or oversteps society’s standards of moral, ethical, or legal behavior.

6. Typically teachers contend with 13 types of misbehavior. • Many different factors can “cause” students to misbehave. • Overall, the tactics teachers use to manage student behavior are referred to as discipline or • behavior management. • Of these interchangeable terms, discipline, the more familiar, has two meanings in relation to behavior. • The first refers to a condition of misbehavior. • The second refers to what teachers do to try to get students to behave acceptably.

7. As mentioned earlier, today discipline is seen as a basic teacher competency that we now realize is an integral part of teaching, not an effort that stands apart. • We know, further, that instruction affects behavior, and behavior affects instruction. • Consequently, discipline is considered a strand of teaching, along with instruction, communication, classroom structure and management, and relations with parents.

8. Getting Started: Initial Suggestions, Principles, and Reflective Questions • According to the author, a relatively simple solution to the discipline problem exists: • It is for teachers to develop teaching approaches that meet the needs of their students, while remaining consistent with their personality and the social realities of the community. • The chapters in Building Classroom Discipline, 9e provide a great deal of advice on how that can be done. • Consider five principles, based on the INTASC, Praxis, and Danielson contributions, intended to help you prepare yourself to work with students in ways that will bring satisfaction to all. • Also take time to consider 20 questions posed by the author that concern students and their behavior, to better help you clarify your ideas. • Finally begin with Principle 1, presenting and conducting yourself in a professional manner, but remember the author’s recommendation about your district’s final word on these considerations.

9. 10 Recommendations of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium • (INTASC) (1987), • www.dpi.state.nc.us/pbl/pblintasc.htm www.ccsso.org/projects/Interstate_New_Teacher_Assessment_and_Support_Consortium • Principle # 1. The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and • structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches, and can create learning experiences that • make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for students. • Principle #2: The teacher understands how children learn and develop and can provide • learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social, and personal development. • Principle #3: The teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning • and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners. • Principle #4: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to • encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance • skills. • Principle #5: The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and • behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, • active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. • Principle #6: The teacher uses knowledge of effective verbal, nonverbal, and media • communication techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive • interaction in the classroom. • Principle #7: The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, • students, the community, and curriculum goals. • Principle #8: The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment • strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social and physical • development of the learner. • Principle #9: The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the • effects of his/her choices and actions on others (students, parents, and other • professionals in the learning community) and who actively seeks out opportunities to • grow professionally. • Principle #10: The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and • agencies in the larger community to support students’ learning and well being.

10. Clarification of Terms: • Behavior—everything people do, good or bad, right or wrong, helpful or useless, productive or wasteful. • Desirable school behavior—that in which students show self-control, responsibility, and consideration and respect for others, and usually involves cooperation and helpfulness. • Misbehavior—behavior that is inappropriate for the setting or situation in which it occurs. • Classroom misbehavior—any behavior that, through intent or thoughtlessness, interferes with teaching or learning; threatens or intimidates others; or oversteps society’s standards of moral, ethical, or legal behavior. • Discipline—has two meanings in relation to behavior. It refers to • a condition of misbehavior (“The discipline in that room is pretty bad.”) or • what teachers do to try to get students to behave properly (“Mr. Smythe’s discipline system is one of the best I’ve seen.”). • In the past, the term discipline suggested teacher control, coercion, and forceful tactics. • Behavior management—the phrase often used by educators for preventing, suppressing, and redirecting misbehavior

11. 13 Types of Misbehavior • 1. Inattention—daydreaming, doodling, looking out the window, thinking about things irrelevant to the lesson. • 2. Apathy—a general disinclination to participate, sulking, or not caring, not wanting to try or to do well. • 3. Needless talk—students chatting during instructional time about things unrelated to the lesson. • 4. Moving about the room—getting up and moving about without permission, congregating in parts of the room. • 5. Annoying others—provoking, teasing, picking at, and calling names. • 6. Disruption—shouting out during the instruction, talking and laughing inappropriately, causing “accidents.” • 7. Lying—falsifying to avoid accepting responsibility or admitting wrongdoing, or to get others in trouble. • 8. Stealing—taking things that belong to others. • 9. Cheating—making false representations or wrongly taking advantage of others for personal benefit. • 10. Sexual harassment—making others uncomfortable through touching, sex-related language, or sexual innuendo. • 11. Aggression and fighting—showing hostility toward others, threatening them, shoving, pinching, wrestling, hitting. • 12. Malicious mischief—doing damage intentionally to school property or to the belongings of others. • 13. Defiance of authority—talking back to the teacher, hostilely refusing to do as the teacher requests.

12. TOWARD RESOLVING THE DISCIPLINE PROBLEM • Suggestions for Working Effectively with Students • 1. Maintain focus on your major task in teaching. • 2. Know what causes misbehavior and how to deal with the causes. • 3. Understand your students’ needs and how to meet them. • 4. Don’t try to coerce students. • 5. Treat all students as your social equals. • 6. Teach and relate to students in a charismatic way. • 7. Involve students meaningfully in making decisions. • 8. Establish a positive set of tactics for responding to misbehavior. • 9. Involve parents and guardians to a reasonable degree.

13. BUILDING A PERSONAL SYSTEM OF DISCIPLINE • Principle 1: Present and conduct yourself in a professional manner. • Make sure you know and put into practice the following: • Standards of professionalism • Ethical considerations • Legal considerations

14. Principle 2: Clarify how you want your students to behave, now, and in the future. • •Identify attitudes and behaviors such as: • •Show positive attitude • •Behave considerably toward others • •Take initiative • •Show self-direction • •Make a strong effort to learn • •Assume personal responsibility for behavior

15. Principle 3: Establish and maintain classroom conditions that help students enjoy and profit from their educational experience. • Give attention to: • Good environment for learning • Compatibility with students’ nature, needs, interests, and preferences • Sense of community • Positive attention • Good communication • Consideration for others • Attention to special needs • Trust

16. Interesting activities • Student knowledge of expectations • Continual helpfulness • Preservation of dignity • Minimizing causes of misbehavior • Teacher charisma • Student involvement in planning the program

17. Principle 4: Do all you can to help students learn to conduct themselves responsibly. • Identify and reduce the known causes of misbehavior. • Build a sense of community in your classroom that emphasizes collaboration, joint decision-making, responsibility, and consideration for others. • Communicate clearly and effectively with students. Keep them fully informed. • Speak with students in ways that build dignity and invite cooperation. • Work in a collaborative way with students and allow them to help make class decisions. • Reach a set of agreements about how the class is to function and how you and thestudents will conduct themselves. • Build group spirit and otherwise energize the class. • Bring parents and guardians into meaningful partnership with your class and program. • Use activities that increase student self-direction and responsibility. • Resolve class problems effectively and fairly while maintaining good personal relationships.

18. Principle 5: Intervene supportively and productively when common disruptions, neurological based behavior, and/or serious actions occur in the classroom. • Understand the nature of helpful interventions and devise approaches that are suited to you and your students. • Develop a repertoire of helpful things to say and do when students misbehave. • Identify tactics and words you want to avoid. • Establish a clear procedure for dealing with misbehavior. Involve students in developing the procedure. Follow that procedure consistently. • Help students accept responsibility for their behavior and commit to better behavior in the future.

19. Set goals as you organize a personal system of discipline that increase the likelihood of the following: • An effective environment for learning • A heightened student sense of purpose • Increased learning • A joyful, satisfying experience in school • Positive personal relations • Student self-control • Student responsibility

20. Clarifying your Ideas Twenty Questions: 1. How should students behave? 2. What are good behavior and misbehavior? 3. What is bad about misbehavior? 4. Why do students misbehave when they know they shouldn’t? 5. What do we need to know about student needs? 6. What do we mean by “positive” discipline? 7. What can teachers do to help students behave properly? 8. How does teaching method affect behavior? 9. How does the physical environment affect behavior? 10. How does the psychosocial environment affect behavior? 11. What role does communication play in discipline? 12. How can you help students work together productively? 13. What role can parents or guardians play in discipline? 14. How can teachers establish good relations with parents and guardians? 15. In what ways do trust, ethics, and teacher charisma affect student behavior? 16. What should you do when students misbehave? 17. How can you best deal with problems in your classroom? 18. How can you best deal with conflict? 19. How do you make your class energetic and lively when you want it that way? 20. Why is a structured approach to discipline desirable?