As a teacher, you will also have more control over your classroom using positive discipline, as you will be advocating the students to make choices and decisions for themselves, rather than try to force them to act correctly. This type of discipline can also lead to long term peace in the classroom, as students will learn how to self correct and how to come up with solutions or issues among themselves. Focus on redirecting behaviors, rather than punishing them. [4] X Expert Source César de León, M. Ed. Educational Leadership Consultant Expert Interview. 11 November 2020.
To respect the child’s dignity. To develop pro-social behavior and encourage self-discipline. To maximize the child’s participation in class discussion. To respect the child’s developmental needs and quality of life. To respect the child’s motivation and life views. To assure fairness and justice through equality and non-discrimination. To promote solidarity among students in the classroom.
First, describe the appropriate behavior you are expecting from the individual or the class. For example, if you are trying to get the class to settle down, you may say: “Class, please quiet down now. ” Then, provide reasons why this behavior is appropriate. For example: “We are going to start our English lesson and it is important that you all listen closely to me. ” Ask for acknowledgement from the class about the appropriate behavior. For example:“Do you all see why quieting down is so important?” Reinforce the correct behavior with eye contact, a nod or a smile. You can also reinforce the class’ good behavior with five extra minutes of play time or another marble in the reward jar. If you are reinforcing individual behavior, you may give extra credit points to the student or put a star by his/her name. Always provide a reward for good behavior immediately and clearly. You want to make the students feel they are on the winning team and to praise individual students for being a good team member.
Keep in mind positive discipline can fail is the student or the class is not rewarded quickly enough and clearly enough. Make sure you always follow through with a reward for appropriate behavior. Always emphasize the task, rather than the behavior. Focus on positive tasks like quieting down and being considerate of others, rather than behaviors like no talking or no shouting. For example, you may use an acknowledgment comment like, “It’s important that we quiet down so we can be considerate of what others have to say,” rather than an acknowledgement comment like, “It’s important that you stop talking and focus. ” Don’t take behavior outbursts personally. Students aren’t robots—they have strong emotions sometimes, and they need to learn how to cope with those. [8] X Expert Source César de León, M. Ed. Educational Leadership Consultant Expert Interview. 11 November 2020.
Your rules may include: all students must come to class on time and ready to learn, all students must be prepared to listen and ask questions by raising their hand, and all students must be aware of the consequences of missing class or turning in assignments late. You may also have a rule about playing fair with others in the classroom and listening respectfully to others when they speak. Make sure you have at least one to two rules that directly address discipline and behavior towards others in the classroom.
You should also discuss the positive consequences of following the classroom rules, such as verbal praise, or entering a class raffle for a prize. You may also use the star system, where a student who follows the rules receives a gold star beside his/her name or a check mark. Group rewards can be effective, where you put a marble in a jar every time the group interacts well and follows the rules, and when the marbles reach a certain height in the jar, the entire class is allowed to go on a special field trip or event. Once you explain the rules and expectations of the classroom, you should have the class verbally agree to the rules or raise their hands to show they understand the rules. This will act as a commitment to the class rules by everyone in the room.
You can also ask parents to go over the rules with their children at home so the rules are clear. This will also signal to children that their parents approve of the classroom rules.
It is also important that you ask your students if they have any questions or concerns about the rules. Some students may feel a certain rule needs to be more specific or to be adjusted. Be open to a discussion about the classroom rules and allow your students to voice their opinions. Though you may decide not to shift or adjust any rules, this will show students that you respect their opinion and indicate they are thinking critically about the rules.
You should also try to maintain positive consequences throughout the school year when a student or the class follow the rules. This will remind the class that the rules are made to reward, as well as to discipline.
This form of discipline, known as democratic discipline, will help to reinforce critical thinking in the classroom and get your students actively involved in finding solutions to issues or problems. As the teacher, you will facilitate these discussions and make suggestions, but you will also rely on the students to provide ideas and feedback.
You can then show the class an issue or problem from last year that you wrote down in the agenda book. For example, you may discuss issues that came up during the line up for lunch. In the line up, some students got annoyed or hurt when other students cut them off or pushed them as they tried to get in line.
For example, you may have solutions like calling the students in alphabetical order to line up, allowing boys to line up first, having students run as fast as they can to the front of the line, or calling each table in random order to line up.
For example, you might begin with: “If I choose the boys before the girls, then the girls will be left out and we don’t want that. But if I call the names in alphabetical order, the A’s will always be first. Running fast to the line up could lead to injuries or more students getting hurt. So, I think I’ll choose the calling each table in random order option. ” Use the solution for the following week when the students line up for lunch and ask the class before they line up, “Who remembers our solution for lining up for lunch?” or “Raise your hand if you remember how we decided to line up. ” This will reinforce the decision and show the students that you are willing to put the chosen solution into practice.
Ask the student who wrote down the issue to ask the class for possible solutions for the issue. Once the student has three to four possible solutions, guide him/her as he/she decides which solution to try for a week. Acknowledge the solution by asking the class to tell you the agreed upon solution throughout the week and refer to the student who choose the solution by name. At the end of the week, check in with the student and ask him/her to tell the class how well or not so well the solution worked. If he/she discovers the solution works well, you may ask him/her to decide if that is the solution he/she is going to use from now on. If the solution did not work so well, work with him/her to come up with a better solution or to adjust the solution to make it better. This will allow students to create their own solutions and to work through issues using critical thinking and self awareness. It will also allow you to discipline students in an open and productive way, and to get students to see each issue as having several potential solutions.
