“Don’t smile until Christmas.” Remember that piece of advice about how to
establish discipline on the first day? I tried it, but I am quite certain I
failed. Discipline was a complete mystery to me during my first year of
teaching. I am not sure exactly what I did, but I do know it didn’t work very
well. I think tried to be strict and mean, but all I found myself doing was
being angry over petty problems, sending kids to the office a lot and arguing
with them, and sometimes their parents. Somewhere along my bumpy, unpaved road
to becoming a disciplinarian I realized that all I have to do is be myself and
it works out. That is vague I know, but what I mean is that while I am not
“strict and mean” anymore, I have developed my own style of discipline that is
a reflection of my personality. Of course my way is too individual for anyone
else to duplicate, but I do have some core elements that I believe should be
standard to any classroom management program.
First, while I still struggle to do this in all situations, I swear it
works: instead of raising your voice, lower it. The lower tones seem to diffuse
difficult situations and keep an upset student from becoming more upset and I
feel more in control than when I yell. Next, handle as much of the classroom
discipline yourself as you can. Only send the most serious problems to the
office. Students learn that you can solve your own problems and I think it
improves the overall classroom climate because they know what to expect. If you
find you must punish or reprimand a student, do it as privately as possible so
they are not further embarrassed or allowed to show off in front of the class.
I prefer asking the offending student to sit down with me and talk about the
problem. I ask them about their version of the problem, and then tell them
mine. Then I ask them what they think they could do to solve the problem and
then I decide how to proceed with any punishment needed. Again, low tones and
non-accusatory language works to diffuse volatile situations. Personally, as
often as possible, I try to explain what is going to happen to them, then move
on to suggestions that will keep them from having the problem again, and
finally I let them know that I do not hate them for doing something wrong.
For example, I caught a student plagiarizing on an essay, so I followed
school policy and called both she and her parent in to discuss the cheating. I
showed them the evidence, referenced the school handbook on our plagiarism
policy which states that the offending student will earn no credit for
plagiarized work and explained the impact of the zero on her course grade. Of course,
she was mortified that she had been caught and devastated by her resulting low
grade, so in the end I asked her how she thought she could avoid resorting to
this sort of cheating in the future. Then we discussed how she could improve
her course grade before the end of the grading period. I finished by reminding
her that she had done good work in the past and that she didn’t need to cheat
to do well in school, but if she felt she needed extra help in the future, she
should see me before and after school. And she did just that. That low moment
for her taught her that she could ask for help instead of cheating when she
felt insecure about her work and we maintained a strong student-teacher
relationship.