Classroom Discipline 101

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:25:18 GMT

A teacher in my school with 18 years of experience has an interesting technique to “enforce” discipline management in her class. Every incoming student has hand-outs on their desk which they must address immediately. No down time, no idle chitchatting before the lesson actually starts and transgressors of this rule are called to order without delay. I have seen other instructors do things differently and suffer the consequences: They sit down at their desk while students are still incoming or they write instructions on the white board with their back turned to the class. Granted, these are high school youngsters who should know how to behave; but a teacher who is not ready to keep them busy from the get go will see their class fall into chaos with frightening speed, especially if the group exceeds 25 teens. It is always much more difficult to recover discipline than to start right away in an orderly fashion.

Without a clear sense of what is expected of them, writing the topics for the whole week on the board is a good way of doing this, juvenile students will inevitably fall into a conversation regarding the merits of the latest musical trend, powder their nose, literally, check their smart phone for messages, exchange jokes accompanied with loud laughter, throw pieces of paper across the room, and generally make a lot of noise that requires strong intervention by the harried teacher. Total time lost: 20 minutes!

Keeping these teens on task is no mean feat; aside from establishing clear rules of conduct and keeping them busy all the time, other personal factors intervene to make the teacher a successful professional: a strong voice, a commanding presence derived from a high self-esteem, greeting students by name as they enter, a well-prepared lesson plan, varied activities for the class, walking around to make sure everybody is on task, words of encouragement to the struggling ones, and, most important, a seating chart. To facilitate learning every student’s name, a fundamental requirement to keep discipline, it is convenient at the beginning of the year to sit them alphabetically; it makes memorizing names much easier. Once this is accomplished, change the order by mixing nerds with slow learners, thus hoping they will work well together.

Caricature of ancient school discipline

We cannot as teachers rule by fear, at any level; we must earn their respect by being courteous with them, no matter what the provocation. I made the mistake once of yelling at a student who was being disrespectful; I wrote him up and sent him to detention. I then called the parents and discovered that the kid was in a foster home and had been diagnosed with emotional disturbance. Feeling quite stupid, the next day I apologized to him and he did the same. I should have known better than to think that it was personal; it never is. Some of these troubled teens will lash out at authority as a reflex action, as they have been abused so often by the same authority figures. Keeping calm and poised is the best way to deal with injurious epithets from a distraught youngster. Whenever possible, include some light humor and kids will see the teacher as a “cool” guy or lady. It will make the classroom a lot easier to deal with. But we must be careful not to give the impression that we are their buddies; that would erode our authority and lead to dangerous consequences.

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Classroom Discipline 101