Each teacher, class, subject,and situation is different. No plan will fit
every situation.
The purpose of this text (and the Classroom Management Workshop it was
designed to supplement) is to help you develop a discipline plan for your class,
to know how to diagnose problems, and to know how to change the plan to fit
changed situations.
Prior to 1970 there were no systematic classroom control models. Schools of
education gave random good advice...much of which was useful. In the early
1960's, our societies' conventions and the schools started to come unglued.
Teachers had previously been able to maintain order by asserting their
authority. Pupils generally were reasonably well behaved and rarely required
much disciplinary attention from the teacher. The old methods began to fail.
Teachers typically do the best that they know how to do. Some have discipline
problems. Many of the teachers currently in the schools have not received
systematic help to this day. Unless their school has brought in a workshop
presenter, it is unlikely that they have had systematic instruction in
developing a discipline plan for their classes.
In the decade from 1969 to 1979, a number of models were developed to deal
with the fact that teachers all over the country were complaining that they
could no longer teach effectively because of classroom disruption and student
inattention.
A number of researchers observed the teaching of many instructors. They noted
what worked and what didn't work. They developed systematic ways to deal with
the problems of class control. Several of these systematic models are given in
brief form here.
The descriptions of the following models have been digested by Tom Allen and
modified to fit his own experience, other sources and workshops with such
presenters as Lee Canter and Fred Jones. The models are summarized from
Building Classroom Discipline: From Models to Practice, by C.M. Charles,
Longman:New York, 1985. Charles has summarized seven systematic models of
classroom management. Each of these has elements that you may find appropriate
now or in the future. The models are based on extensive observation of pupil and
teacher behavior and on research into various psychological aspects of human
nature and behavior. They incorporate what is deemed to work in the hands of
successful teachers.
The plan of this class is to work through the available options and develop a
plan that will make it possible for you to teach and the pupils to learn...and
for you to feel comfortable with what you do to make it possible.
Annual polls of beliefs about the schools consistently rate the lack of
discipline at the top of the list of problems. Teachers and the general public
agree on this. Even pupils agree that the lack of classroom discipline is the
main problem. One poll found that 9 out of 10 teachers complained that student
misbehavior interfered with their teaching.
Although fear of physical attack is common, serious injury of teachers is
very rare. Verbal encounters with hostile students are more common. Violence
among pupils and vandalism are common. But what is disrupting classes is
relatively innocuous. Fred Jones researched the problem and found that about 99%
of the typically encountered discipline problems are made up of such behaviors
as pupils talking without permission, daydreaming, wandering around the room, or
otherwise not doing what they have been asked to do.
Although significant elements of various models have been presented here, the
rationales and examples have been generally omitted due to space limitations.
The selections were made to give an idea of the range of options open to the
teacher...if you want to know more about one or more of the models, consult
Building Classroom Discipline: From Models to Practice, by C.M. Charles,
Longman:New York, several editions, or look up works by the authors of the
individual models. When funding permits, the TPSS Program offers TPSS 701
Assertive Discipline and TPSS 701 Classroom management Techniques. These
workshops, taught by local public school educators who have been trained by Lee
Canter or Fred Jones, are highly recommended.
Underlying all discipline problems and efforts to cope with misbehavior are
four basic realities of human nature: We tend to resist doing what others
try to make us do; we like to denigrate and "question authority"; every
person is different in interests, abilities and learning styles as well
as different needs, wants and values; and, as children grow older, they need to
be weaned psychologically in order to develop their potential. The
ultimate goal should be to develop self-discipline in pupils and to move away
from external, authority-imposed control; in the meanwhile, a systematic control
system makes it possible for teachers to teach and pupils to learn. This
teacher-imposed plan should provide for a transition to self-control and should
wither away as it is no longer needed.
KEY IDEAS OF SEVEN MODELS OF DISCIPLINE.
The Kounin Model:
Withitness, Alerting, and Group Management.
- The ripple effect: when you correct one pupil's behavior, it tends to
change the behavior of others.
- The teacher needs to be with it to know what is going on everywhere
in the room at all times.
- Smooth transitions between activities and maintaining momentum are
key to effective group management.
- Optimal learning takes place when teachers keep pupils alert and held
accountable for learning.
- Boredom [satiation] can be avoided by providing variety to lessons,
the classroom environment and by pupil awareness of progress.
The Neo-Skinnerian Model:
Shaping Desired Behavior. B.F. Skinner
is the father of the behavioral school of psychology. A recently popular
outgrowth of Skinnerian behaviorism is Behavior Modification. For a useful
presentation, see the section on the Behavioral Systems Family in Joyce and
Weil, Models of Teaching, particularly the introduction to the section
and chapters on "Learning Self-Control" and "Assertive Training."
- Behavior is conditioned by its consequences. Behavior is strengthened if
followed immediately by reinforcement. Behavior is weakened if it is not
reinforced. ["Extinction."] Behavior is also weakened if it is followed by
punishment.
- In the beginning stages of learning, reinforcement provided every time the
behavior occurs produces the best results.
- Behavior can be maintained by irregular reinforcement. Reinforcers
include verbal approval, smiles, "thumbs up," high grades, free reading time,
goodies, prizes and awards.
The Ginott Model:
Addressing the Situation with Sane Messages.
- Discipline is little-by-little, step-by-step. The teacher's
self-discipline is key. Model the behavior you want in students.
- Use sane messages when correcting misbehavior. Address what the
student is doing, don't attack the student's character [personal traits].
Labeling disables.
- Use communication that is congruentwith student's own feelings
about the situation and themselves.
- Invite cooperation rather than demanding it.
- Teachers should express their feelings--anger--but in sane ways. "What you
are doing makes me very angry. I need you to ...."
- Sarcasm is hazardous.
- Praise can be dangerous; praise the act, not the student and in a
situation that will not turn peers against the pupil.
- Apologies are meaningless unless it is clear that the person intends to
improve.
- Teachers are at their best when they help pupils developtheir
self-esteem and to trust their own experience.
The Glasser Model:
Good Behavior Comes from Good Choices.
Glasser's recent work focuses on the class meeting as a means of
developing class-wide discipline. See the chapter on The Classroom Meeting in
Joyce and Weil, Models of Teaching. [For those who have their classes
under control and would like to try to go beyond teacher-imposed discipline,
William Glasser's approach is worth serious consideration.
- Students are rational beings capable of controlling their own behavior.
- Help pupils learn to make good choices, since good choices produce good
behavior.
- Do not accept excuses for bad behavior. Ask, "What choices did you have?
Why did you make that choice? Did you like the result? What have you learned?"
- Reasonable consequences should always follow good or bad student behavior.
- [Usually developed in classroom meetings,] class rules are essential to
a good learning climate, they must be enforced.
- Classroom meetings are a good way to develop and maintain class
behavior. [The group diagnoses the problem and seeks solutions.]
The Dreikurs Model:
Confronting Mistaken Goals.
- Discipline is not punishment. It means self-control.
- The teacher's role is helping pupils to impose limits on themselves.
- Teachers can model democratic behavior by providing guidance and
leadership and involving pupils in setting rules and consequences.
- All students want to belong. Their behavior is directed to belonging.
- Misbehavior is the result of their mistaken belief that it will gain them
peer recognition. [It is usually a mistake to assume that misbehavior is an
attack directed at the teacher.]
- Misbehavior is directed at mistaken goals: attention-getting,
power-seeking, revenge, and displaying inadequacy. The trick is to identify
the goal and act in ways that do not reinforce mistaken goals.
- Teachers should encourage students' efforts, but avoid praising their work
[?] or character. [Others disagree.]
- Support the idea that negative consequences follow inappropriate behavior
by your actions.
The Canter Model: Assertively Taking Charge and The Fred Jones Model: Body
Language, Incentive Systems, and Providing Efficient Help.
The next two sections spell out the Canter and Jones models in some detail. These are the two systems most in use in public schools. I have moved them to a different file [press here] in order to shorten this page.
In preparing a discipline plan, consider what your objectives
are and what needs to happen for those objectives to come about. Avoid jumping
directly to a solution. If you say, "I have this tool [for example,
detention], that ought to work." You have locked into a single option. To a
person with a new hammer, everything looks like a nail.
It is more productive to ask yourself, "I need to get John to stop talking
and get to work. What options do I have?"
My workshop participants have brainstormed a number of options for each of
the elements of a discipline plan: rules, positive and negative reinforcers,
limit-setting acts, etc. I list many of them here--with my comments for some
in brackets. I don't necessarily recommend all of them and you should only use
those appropriate to your situation and that you will feel comfortable using
in practice.
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RESULTS OF BRAINSTORMING IN PREVIOUS SECTIONS OF WORKSHOP
RULES
- Be on time
- Clean up area
- Mutual respect for learning and right to teach
- Pick up trash
- Do in-class work in this class
- No hats [Hats off?]
- No staple shooting [do you want to suggest this?]
- No clay throwing
- No running
- No food fights
- Be cooperative
- No throwing things [Would this be better? "Throw things on the field, not
in the class"
- Tobacco is prohibited [this is a State/school rule, do you need
it?]
- Listen quietly
- Keep area clear [specify area]
- No snapping towels
- Keep criticism positive
- Follow directions the first time
- No talking during roll
- Eat/drink outside of class
- Use proper language in class
- Work to the end of class
- Dispose of gum before entering
- Carry microscope with two hands
- Attend to the work of the class ["no note passing," etc. can be handled in
the explanation of what the rule means.]
- Leave the belongings of others alone
- Keep hands and feet to yourself
- Don't make fun of others [Items like the last three can be covered with a
rule like "Respect others and their possessions."]
- Raise your hand to be recognized
- Be prepared
- Stay in seat
- Be an active listener
- Follow safety rules
- No complaining about assignments [Students will try to negotiate a
postponement, etc. It is usually best to listen, avoid getting into an
argument, and restate the assignment, i.e., "broken record."]
- Take care of equipment
- Sit correctly in seat [posture]
- Respect materials
- Sharpen pencil before the bell rings [what happens if the pencil breaks?]
- No cheating. ["Do your own work"]
- Be responsible
- Bring materials to class
- Ask to leave the room [Is this what you intend?]
- Turn assignments in on time
- No unauthorized experiments
- Do work in ink in proper format
- Talk only with permission
- Be in your seat when the bell rings
- No talking across the room
State rules positively when possible, use as few rules as you can and still
reach your objectives, let one rule cover a number of related ideas, and explain
the rules with examples to your class.
What (few) rules do you really need to set the environment for
learning?
LIMIT SETTING ACTS
Non-verbal:
Eye contact--composed face
Proximity
Calming gesture
Place hand on the pupil's desk or book
Open student's book and point at work to be started
Tap on teacher's desk
Flash lights off and on
Personal contact [see "touching" in GESA materials for explanation--touching
is powerful and potentially dangerous]
Peer pressure [may assist but not something teacher can direct]
Model expected behavior
Point to posted rule
Circle child who is asleep/off-task while continuing lecture
The Stare
Silence [then follow up with gesture when the student looks up]
Blow a whistle, click a clicker, tinkle a bell, etc.
Ignore intentionally [note: by the time the teacher realizes that a child is
off task, [there has usually been enough time for extinction to work if it is
going to work.]
Start over
Talk with student after class
Nod or point with eye contact
Moving in [it is suggested that you not attempt the Fred Jones sequence
unless you have been trained/practiced.]
Point at student
Hand gestures, e.g., palm down or out, thumbs down
Incorporate student who is off-task into the demonstration [not a put down:
"Joe, please hold the end of this for me"]
Raise your hand [cooperative learning signal]
If a general problem, have class reenter the room
Verbal acts short of consequences:
Call student by name
I need you to....
Quietly, calmly [one-to-one] state what you want, e.g., "I need you to...."
Compliment someone who is on task [Lee Canter says to compliment
several acts before applying negative consequences]
Peer counseling [e.g., send a pair out so the rules can be explained before
consequences affecting preferred activity time would be imposed
Broken record [in lieu of arguing about what happened] "I need you to...."
"But Louie started it." "I need you to ...."
Limit setting acts are the preferred thing for the teacher to do
to stop misbehavior...only use the negative consequences when limit setting
isn't working or when the act is deliberate/persistent
POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES/PREFERRED ACTIVITY TIME
Positive consequences, as used here are typically attached to specific,
individual behaviors, e.g., when an individual gives a correct response,
you praise the answer. Preferred Activity Time [PAT] is given as a result of
accumulated positive class behavior over a period of time. Some of the
following could be utilized as positive consequences for individual or class
acts as well as being on the list of preferred activities to be chosen by the
class when "Preferred Activity Time Friday" comes.
- Movies, videos
- Music [It is suggested that the teacher list the music from which the
class will choose and control the sound level. A heavy beat/vocals tend to
interfere with seat work.]
- Teacher reads aloud
- Guest speaker/presentation
- Field trips
- Computer time
- "Great Kid" note
- Positive letter home
- Contest
- Free reading
- Variety box of games in content area, e.g., Trivial Pursuit
- baseball (the in-class game in which one team's pitcher "pitches"
questions to the other team's batter)
- No homework [if goal has been met in class]
- awards given at ceremony
- Positive personal award
- Games of lower organization
- Two class competition
- Class discussion of topic of their choice
- Pizza or Popcorn [easy on the butter and salt]
- Raffle tickets for privileges, prizes
- Work on puzzles [note: this kind of activity can have a curricular value
and still be fun]
- Open microphone
- Draw a mural
- Free labs
- Spelling bee
- Make posters
- Career investigation
- Class party [parties don't work out when every class does it...like on the
last day of year]
- Free writing
- Sing-a-long with or without instruments
- Planning a class project
- Team prize
- Strokes [verbal, written]
LEE CANTER'S SUGGESTIONS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
POSITIVE
CONSEQUENCES
Recognition
Happy Gram to Parent/Student
Recognition in daily bulletin
Smile
Pat on back
Display work
Standing ovation
Round of applause
Encouraging words
Privileges
Library pass
Free time
Choice of where to sit
Use of lab equipment
Allow to do special experiment
Computer time
No weekend homework
Choice of music
Early to lunch
Tangible Rewards
Snacks/soft drinks in room
Free pass to event
Video treat
Bonus points
Video game tokens
Extra credit
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NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES
In-class detention [note: student
must be permitted to eat lunch; if after school, need to notify office, notify
parent, and/or arrange for child to be picked up if missing the bus.]
Send to room 12 [you and another teacher have agreed to park the other's
problems...a visiting "non person" may return when assignment is completed.]
Parent attends class with miscreant by mutual agreement
Tape recorder "so I can play it when your mother asks what you've been up
to."
Contract [between teacher and pupil]
Ten laps/essay [do you want to equate school work with punishment?]
Isolation [be careful about parking child in the hallway...it gets to be
great fun when several are there from different classes; your supervision
responsibility is in jeopardy; check to see if there is a school rule aboutthis.
May be o.k. if, "John, I want you to wait for me outside the door, I'll be there
as soon as I get the class started...."]
Restrict activity
Name on the board, check marks [lunch-time/after school detention]
Phone parents
Send letter home [see sample following this section]
Give minus points/demerits [this only works if you have a way to earn
points/merits]
Cease activity students want
Take time away from PAT [not usually advisable unless you typically give
liberally as well as take away]
Lose lab points
Lose a privilege
Time out
Stop the lesson [Lee Canter says you should always stop and deal with
interruptions; however, limit-setting acts may be used without interruption of
the lesson.]
Solitary time
Restrict student to chair
Extra work [do you wish to equate school work with punishment?]
Have student apologize to teacher and class [only if student has agreed to do
so privately beforehand and if there is reason to believe that the student
intends to follow through.]
Clean room
Charge a fee [may not be legal; check this out before announcing it.]
OUT-OF-CLASS BACK-UP SYSTEM
[Requires help from others to carry out]Saturday school
clean-up
Referral to office
Detention [school-wide plan]
Student-Parent-Teacher-Administrator/counselor conference [usually terminates
with a contract]
Deliver student to parent
In-school suspension
Suspension in office
Suspend from class [teacher can do this for one day...check school policy on
notification...administrator can suspend for longer period.]
Suspend from school [only administrator can]
Expulsion [only school board can]
Note: Police and court actions may be used if indicated by the crime. A
school attendance review board [SARB] may be used if appropriate.
A Sample Letter Home
PACIFIC HIGH SCHOOL
FIFTH AND UNION STREETS
Arcata, CA 95521
October xx, 199x
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith:
Your son, Bill, talks to the people sitting near him in his U.S. History
class so much that it interferes with his learning and with their learning.
I have talked with him about it, but the problem persists.
I have attached a copy of the class discipline plan to this letter for your
convenience. As you can see, the next step is for me to notify you.
If Bill continues to disrupt the class, the next step is suspension from this
class for one period and referral to the office.
From our earlier conversation, I know you have high hopes for Bill. I need
your help now. Please discuss this with Bill. I am sure that we can bring about
a change if we work together. If you have any questions, please call me at
000-0000 between 11:00 am and 12:00 noon, my preparation period, or call me at
home between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. at 111-1111.
Please sign below and ask Bill to return this to me so that I will know that
you received the message.
Sincerely,
Eric Q. Teacher
cc: Bill Smith
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