The Road to Discipline
Some Helpful Advice to Young Teachers
Every new teacher worries about discipline. What if my pupils won’t
behave? How do I get them to listen to me?
Good discipline involves many factors but it depends first on your own
attitudes and understandings. These determine the kinds of relationships that you can
establish in the classroom.
To be a “good disciplinarian” – neither a martinet nor an
intimate friend but an adult with whom pupils can work effectively – you must begin
with:
A genuine regard and concern for children. Any child,
whether 8 or 18, whether slow or bright, whether of one ethnic background or
another, can tell instinctively that you like him and respect him and will react
accordingly.
An understanding of the ways in which children are alike.
Big or small, bold or shy, they seek security and recognition, they thrive on achievement
and appreciation, and they want to cooperate and to belong if you give them the chance.
An understanding of the ways in which children are different.
There are obvious differences such as size, sex, appearance and personality. There are
less obvious differences such as abilities, talents, aspirations, social maturity and
emotional reactions. You can never get to know your pupils completely, but the more you
recognize their differences and learn about them as individuals, the more successful you
will be in your relationships with them.
Of course, as important as attitudes and understandings are, they are
not enough in themselves. They are a beginning. To proceed further along the road to
discipline, you must grasp the answers to some key questions. Also you must be able to
apply those answers in actual practice.
Here are the questions – and the answers:
I. How can I encourage pupils, by my manner in the classroom, to
behave and to work with me?
A. Act as if you expect pupils to be orderly from
the minute they walk into your room. Show that you take this type of conduct for granted.
B. Have everyone’s attention before you start
talking. Stop when there is noise or inattention.
C. Speak quietly but audibly. Don’t shout, nag
or repeat.
D. Don’t talk too much. Ask questions. Involve
the pupils in discussion or activities.
E. Be businesslike but also be friendly.
Smile on occasion. Show that you have a sense of humor but within reasonable limits.
F. Without fuss hold pupils accountable – for
lateness, for absence, for homework, for other obligations.
G. Maintain your dignity but don’t be pompous or perfect.
Admit your own mistakes.
H. Treat minor misfortunes calmly but humorously, for
example, books falling or liquid being spilled. Then pass over the situation quickly and
continue with the lesson or activity.
II. How should I handle group infractions or misbehavior?
A. Don’t wait until a class is out of hand. When pupils
become restless, change your activity, your approach or your tempo.
B. Focus on individual culprits rather than the class in
general. Try to divert ringleaders by asking them questions or by assigning them to
appropriate tasks or activities.
C. Keep your temper and your poise. Pupils may test you
to find out how far they can go but they are not being personal.
D. Avoid making threats, but if you do make a threat,
carry it out.
E. If you continue to have difficulty, analyse possible
causes: your manner or attitude, your management of routines, your teaching
procedures, your relationships with individual offenders, etc.
REFUSAL TO DO WORK OR OPEN DEFIANCE
Make notation; then speak to the pupil privately.
FOOLING AROUND OR HORSEPLAY
Keep class working so that the offender or offenders are isolated.
Insist calmly but firmly that nonsense be stopped.
Check work and make notation in marking book. If misbehavior stops
quickly, continue lesson as if nothing has happened.
If misbehavior continues or is repeated, see offender or offenders
after class or after school. Follow up as needed.
IMPROPER LANGUAGE
Indicate calmly that language is improper and uncalled for. Don’t
take obscenity as personal affront but as offense against the class and school.
If remark is just one outburst of temper, keep your own record but try
to adjust matter by talking to the pupil in private.
Don’t insist on a public apology. If pupil is repentant, his attitude
will be evident to the class.
If improper language is repeated or is part of a poor behavior pattern,
send referral form in accordance with school regulations.
LEAVING ROOM WITHOUT PERMISSION
Don’t try to stop pupil by physical force. Send another
pupil with the note to inform the suitable school official. Mark the pupil as
“cutting” for the time he is out, and follow the school procedure for cutting.
Continue your lesson. Follow up when the pupil returns, using resources at your disposal.
Adjust your actions to the causes and the pupil’s attitude.
ARGUMENT BETWEEN PUPILS
Separate pupils quickly. Seat them in different parts of the room. If
the argument stops, see each pupil separately.
Make certain the argument has been settled. If the argument threatens
to continue after class or after school, notify the office.
If the argument continues in class, send one of the disputants out with
another pupil, either to an adjoining teacher or an office, with a note. If a fight
starts, send for assistance and try to break up the fight with the help of other pupils.
Don’t step in between the combatants unless they are
younger or smaller children.
MISSING POSSESSIONS
Give the culprit a chance to the return article immediately without
penalty, and possibly without detection.
If the article is not returned and you find the culprit, send a
referral form at once. Theft, as distinct from mere mischief, is a serious offense. If the
article is not returned or discovered, send promptly for a school official. Keep the class
in room until the official arrives.
Note: It is not possible to cover every type of infraction or to give a
precise formula for coping with each infraction. The situations and measures described are
illustrative and are intended to serve as a guide. Much will depend on your own judgment,
also on the regulations and procedures in the school where you are assigned.
III. How can I get pupils to work with me not because they have to but
because they want to?
A. Show an individual interest in your pupils – their
health, their problems, their achievements.
B. Establish class procedures and standards of behavior in
cooperation with the pupils so that these standards and procedures are theirs as
well as yours.
C. Trust pupils without being an “easy mark”. Take
a pupil’s word unless you have good reason not to. Make the pupils feel that you
believe in them so long as they do not take advantage of your confidence.
D. Give pupils a feeling of success through
assignment of reasonable tasks and your personal encouragement.
E. Praise the class and individual pupils for good work,
cooperation or improvement. Show that you appreciate their efforts and abilities.
F. Stress the positive – what should be
done rather than what should not be done.
G. Be fair and consistent. Don’t have favorites
or “goats.” Don’t accept infractions at one time and condemn them at another time.
H. Show pupils the same respect and courtesy that you
expect from them. Avoid sarcasm. Don’t be arrogant or condescending.
I. Show your pupils that you like them and are
concerned about them. They will respond in kind.
Now that you have read the questions and the answers, have you
completed your short course in discipline? Not quite. Even if you were to apply
successfully the techniques and precepts suggested here, you would still need the
following:
Careful advance preparation combined with systematic routines.
Orderly procedures and efficient class management make it easy and even necessary for
pupils to behave. What is more important, perhaps, is that such procedures provide an
environment in which your pupils and you feel comfortable and secure. This kind of
environment is a prime requisite for good discipline.
Functional lesson planning and effective teaching. The
two go together like love and marriage. In a similar manner, teaching and discipline are
closely related. To give instruction and promote learning, you must have orderly
conditions. Where pupils are not learning because they are not well motivated or well
taught, they will have little reason to be well behaved.
A concept of discipline as one aspect of guidance. Your
approaches in the classroom must include varied techniques and resources that will
maintain order. However, these are often short-term and relatively superficial measures.
In the long run, in any school or classroom, discipline should be a natural by-product of
the atmosphere established by good mental hygiene and perceptive counseling. Pupils should
behave because they are well-adjusted, because they are achieving inner satisfactions,
because they can get help with their problems, and because they have developed a
self-image which gives them confidence and hope.
This does not mean that you can substitute permissiveness for order.
It does mean that:
Your main goal is guidance rather than discipline as such.
You must watch for the pupil who needs help rather than
“discipline” – often the quiet child who tends to remain unnoticed.
You should consult with and profit from the guidance personnel in
your school. They may have various designations – guidance counselor, educational and
vocational counselor, teacher-counselor, grade advisor – but they will not be hard to
find.
A constant self-inquiry into the variability of discipline.
Why do some of my groups or pupils behave better than others? Why is my discipline better
on some days than others? Why do some techniques work better for me than others? You will
never arrive at final answers to questions like these, but trying to get the answers will
make you a more effective disciplinarian – and a more effective teacher. One additional
word of advice: every once in a while you are going to have a “bad day” when nothing
seems to go right. Just remember that this happens to every teacher. Don’t
brood. Tomorrow will be better.
As you gain in experience and skill, you will come to realize that
discipline, as large as it may loom at first, is not an end but a means – a tool by
which you can expedite the learning, the progress, the growth of your pupils. When this
concept of discipline becomes an actuality in your teaching, you will know that you are
well along the road to a successful career.
By A.T. Tuarsheva,
Lyceum, Chabez, Karachaevo-Cherkessiya
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