Any experienced teacher will know good discipline does not just happen all at once. Managing student behavior is a learned skill, but classroom control will begin before the students even enter the classroom. Managing student behavior is no easy task. Each teacher will develop his or her own form of discipline. Remember that students need to feel valued and welcomed. They need to know that you have an honest interest in each one of them, not only as a class, but also as individuals. For good discipline, certain behaviors are necessary on the part of the teacher:
- Be consistent; establish the rules and stick to them.
- Consequences should be fair and consistently applied.
- Be prepared for the students who will test the rules.
- Do not threaten students with a consequence unless you are ready to carry it out. Students will view you as inconsistent if you fail to do what you say.
- Do not be judgmental; look at each situation from all angles before you designate a consequence.
- Never put off discipline. Handle any behavioral problem when it occurs.
- Make sure students understand the rules and the consequences. Students need to know how to behave in any given situation. With some students, you may want to do role-playing at the beginning of the school year. In this way, students will see what is expected of them and see the consequences being applied.
- Show a true interest in all of the students. Each one needs to be treated as an individual and with respect, not just another student. When giving praise to any student, use his or her name with the praise. Nothing pleases students more than to hear their names used in a good light.
- Implement well-planned lessons. Know what you are going to teach and be well prepared.
- Allow for flexibility. There will be many interruptions in a school year; you will not accomplish everything that is planned on a particular day.
For more tips on managing student behavior, check out the book, Year-Round Classroom Tips.
I truly enjoyed these tips. Some of them are simple, but the simple ones are the ones that I tend to forget. I have enjoyed looked around this blog; keep up the good work.
This is always something I’m trying to improve on – thanks for the suggestions.
These tips are very good to live by. In my education classes I have learned that it is very important not to show favoritism and that you should have the same consequences for every student. I also think that it is important to provide positive reinforcement right after the student does something good. This way the student knows what he/she did right and that way they can work on doing more things right so they can be reinforced.
This was a very enlighting article about controling classroom behavior. I have learned from experience not to use different types of punishment on students. All students should recieve equal punishment. An easy way to keep up with this is put the class rules up on the wall in your classroom. Beside that poster you can put the punishment to each rule if they are broken. This way a student will know before hand what their punishment is before they break a rule.
Behavior management is about changing behavior. This process involves making adaptations for the person with challenging behavior and making changes in the environment where the problem behavior occurs. Changing behavior is not just about changing the behavior of the student, but also about changing the behavior of the adults and other students in the environment. It is important to identify and define the behaviors that need to be changed as well as the new, more appropriate behaviors that need to be learned.
Be prepared for the students to test the rules…
Never put off discipline. Handle any behavioral problem when it occurs…
As a new teacher that has some “natural” abilities, the classroom behavior was not my strong suit. I didn’t want to be the favorite teacher or the most popular, but I also was hesitant to give out detentions and tardy slips. So on the third week into the school year every single class in succession “tested” my rules and consequences. It was the hardest week I have ever had and I almost didn’t know what to do! I had to lay down the LAW and enforce all my RULES and handle every problem right then and there to get my classroom under control. Once I got through that week of testing and the kids saw that I would hand out d-halls and tardy slips, then they calmed down and we could get back to learning.
Very clear and concise tips for behavior
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I am fortunate to be in a good school, with some really great kids. I have found that when they do things that go against the rules, it is that they do not view what they are doing as wrong.
Usually, having a one on one, where I explain the rule, the reason it is in place, and why we need to uphold the rule, the student is good with obeying the rule.
As a supply teacher for 11 years in the primary sector, I used the following strategy. If a child was refusing to comply with a reasonable request, such as lining up for assembly, I would point out that they had a choice over how to behave. I would also point out the consequences of not complying, such as minutes off golden time, missing part of playtime etc. It generally worked and kept me calm when facing a blank refusal.
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