Six Surefire Ways to Improve Classroom Discipline | Learning Magazine
*As featured in a past edition of one of our magazines*
Six Surefire Ways to Improve Classroom Discipline
With these timely tips you can start your year off right!
Teachers spend as much as 30 percent of their instructional time on discipline, with the majority of student behavior problems being minor distractions such as goofing off or talking out of turn. Keeping more than two dozen young people engaged in learning while handling problems usually generated by two or three students can not only test your patience but also ruin a perfect lesson. Instead of playing the role of air traffic controller, begin the school year with these six strategies for keeping kids focused on your lessons.
Move around the room. The front of the classroom is a natural place to be when conducting large-group instruction. However, "frontal teaching" opens up the possibility for many minor discipline problems related to restlessness, daydreaming, or lack of interest. Rather than rooting yourself to the front of the classroom, move around the room. You can teach just as effectively from the back, side, or middle of the classroom, so let the entire room be your stage. If you need to write something on the board or flip a transparency, ask a student for help. Students enjoy helping you, and doing so keeps them involved in the lesson. As a result, disruptions during your lesson will be kept to a minimum.
Teach social skills. This may seem like an additional burden piled on you while you're hard-pressed to meet the demands of the curriculum, but that's not the case. You're already teaching social skills; they're hidden in day-to-day conversation. For example, every time you talk with a student about a procedure for doing a task or give explanations about a misbehavior, you're giving a minilesson on social skills. If you're concerned about how to fit teaching social skills into your busy schedule, you can relax. Lessons about conflict resolution can be drawn from children's literature and chapter books. Math and science teach about numbers and facts, but these subjects also provide lessons about anticipating consequences and learning from experience. In addition, teaching methods such as cooperative learning, brainstorming, and peer tutoring promote social skills while enriching students' understanding of the curriculum. The amount of time you spend correcting student behavior can be reduced if you bring social skills out into the open and make them a part of your curriculum.
Have a sense of humor. You are probably already aware of the positive effects that laughter has on the body. A good chuckle helps to remove irritations and releases tension. Humor can also be the bridge to friendship—it supports relationships and builds group cohesiveness. If you find ways to enjoy yourself in the classroom by integrating your interests and hobbies into your curriculum, your sense of humor will surface. Keep in mind that your temperament sets the mood for the entire class. The more of yourself you share with your students, the more fun you will all have.
Don't take unruly behavior personally. When I was teaching, my pet peeve was tattling. Maybe that's because I'm a lawyer's son and early on in life I learned the difference between direct observation and hearsay. Whenever a student tattled, I knew that I had to be careful not to respond negatively. Unacknowledged pet peeves can cause a minor discipline issue to snowball into a major confrontation between you and a student.
Be aware of student behavior that throws your emotional gyroscope into a tailspin. Consider that therapists, lawyers, and judges can't make sound professional judgments if they react personally to the people who come to them for help. The same holds true for you. Emotional detachment presents the opportunity for clear thinking, whereas an impulsive reaction to misbehavior will model precisely the type of behavior that you want your students to eliminate.
Look for causes of discipline problems. Ethan was a well-mannered kindergartner who came to class one morning all out of sorts. He was so irritable and argumentative that his teacher sent him to the principal's office. In tears, Ethan confided to the principal that his feet hurt because in a rush, his mother had mistakenly dressed him in a pair of shoes that belonged to his brother and were two sizes too small. Ethan didn't tell his teacher about his feet hurting because he didn't want the other kids to know he was wearing his brother's shoes. There's always a reason for misbehavior. In exemplary schools, good discipline concentrates on the causes of discipline problems rather than the symptoms. When misbehavior occurs, look for the source of the trouble and see whether there's something within the classroom or school environment that you can change. When confronted with the problem of teasing and bullying, consider the impact of student cliques. When students fail to finish assignments, analyze the interest level of the materials and your presentation.
Promote student responsibility. Ms. Levy ran a tight ship. Her students understood that breaking rules would lead to swift consequences. Her class was referred to as the model class, and her students complied with the rules—until the day she was absent. When the substitute arrived, so did the misbehavior.
Don't mistake compliance for responsible behavior. When all control resides with the teacher, students will toe the line because they fear the consequences. Responsible behavior cannot be dictated; the classroom belongs to everyone, not just the teacher.
Classroom events offer many ways to teach and learn responsibility:
Develop classroom rules together so that the rules are initiated by students rather than forced upon them.
Use cooperative learning and peer tutoring so that students can help others and feel useful.
Hold discussions to troubleshoot problems. Honest dialogue about feelings communicates a sense of community and shared priorities.
Sharing the responsibility of classroom housekeeping teaches students the importance of contributing and giving something back to the class.
Give it a try. As you start off a new school year, think back and recall the number of times in a day that you've had to speak to students about their behavior. You'll have a pretty good idea about how much time you're devoting to discipline. Give these ideas a try. You'll see results. I guarantee it!
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