I could do an entire blog on student discipline. I have worked in schools where student discipline was rarely a problem. I worked in a school where principals and assistant principals rewarded only the students who were struggling, and rarely recognized the kids who took care of business every day. In fact, I once was made aware of a student sent to the office by a teacher for misbehavior. And ladies and gentlemen, that young person walked back into the classroom holding a Honey Bun for their efforts. They may as well have been holding a pro wrestling, world title belt above their head. How do you think classroom management looked for that teacher the rest of the year? What I really want to do today is to lay the foundation for how to build a good discipline program.
I had four rules in my classroom. Be safe. Be kind/respectful. Listen to your teachers. Do your best.
I believe in keeping rules simple. Consequences were usually a verbal warning, then a teacher conversation, then a conversation with a parent/caregiver, and then the principal would be involved. There are very few actual consequences that schools can employee these days, especially in elementary school. No paddling. No loss of recess. In middle and high school, leverage does actually exist which includes curtailing extracurricular privileges. I have mixed feelings about those loss of those privileges, especially if that extracurricular is a student’s only way out of generational poverty.
I have worked for people who didn’t like punitive punishments. In other words, they didn’t like students having negative consequences. Well, I have news for realistic people. If you have rules without consequences, you are going to have absolute chaos. Being made to be uncomfortable for breaking the rules is a strategy that works. Part of the learning process is being uncomfortable. In fact, if we teach students that only positive consequences are the norm….that is not how the real world works. In the real world, if you drink and drive, you go to jail or you could injure another person. In the real world, if you show up late for your job, you can get fired. In the real world, if you do drugs, you can end-up in a lifetime of rehab. In the real world, there are real and very unpleasant consequences for bad behavior.
And I do believe in positive classroom discipline. I don’t think many of us enjoyed being in classrooms with someone who was ruthless. Being rewarded for doing the right thing is a strategy that works. Classroom economies do have success. Though I will add a warning, we actually want discipline systems in place which teach students to make the right decision intrinsically. We don’t want them always doing it just for a “carrot,” a reward of sorts. To develop good habits, it is understandable to have a behavior system which rewards good behavior w/ tickets or points. But really, we want students to grow from that “pat on the back” to being the captain of their own ship – meaning they know they have the responsibility to do the right thing even though nobody is looking. And we need to be especially sure that we are not rewarding bad behavior with classroom economies.
In my opinion, the absolute most important thing that you can do(to build a culture of great behavior in your classroom) is to have great communication with parents in your classroom. I used a layered communication approach which centers around talking via phone. Before any of that I meet with parents as a group. I recommend beginning the year with a parent orientation for your classroom before school ever starts. Build a digital presentation. Make it look sharp. Parents need to know that you aren’t going to waste their time by winging it. Introduce yourself. Be personable, professional, approachable, but not cuddly. Talk about homework expectations. Talk about your communication expectations with parents. Talk about your classroom rules and consequences. Talk about your academic expectations. This meeting should take roughly 45 minutes. Try to set your orientation time for when the most parents can attend. The middle of the day is a hard no. Usually, I set orientation times for after-work hours, but not too late. It might well be important to also add a live zoom feed. Have parents sign-in at the meeting. Have parents sign-up for parent conference times on that night.
As for parent conferences, I generally tried to meet with the family of each student at the first parent conference day. I generally averaged 80-98% of all families attending for parent conferences. Main point -> start talking to parents early and build a relationship. That way, if you have to have a discussion about classroom behavior, you have a foundational relationship to handle things. I rarely encountered parents who weren’t supportive during parent conferences. I generally talked about a student’s academic progress, their behavior, and then asked for concerns from parents. I set my conference times for 20 minutes and held right to that number. If I knew that I had a more complex situation, I might book a family for 30 minutes. I generally asked students to be present for parent conferences. Any unwanted behaviors would be discussed on that day. But if you are really doing your job well, those behaviors will be handled by a phone call well before a conference. Thus, the conference really becomes an update on behavior versus it being an initial discussion that surprises the family.
Earning your students’ respect is an incredibly important process which impacts positive student behavior. Show them you care, but have firm boundaries. Be consistent with your classroom management program – BE CONSISTENT. And if they are hungry, make sure they are fed. If they are broken down emotionally, you need to understand they aren’t learning until that emotional upheaval is repaired and tended to. A student who is fighting to have their basic needs met will likely and understandably struggle to learn. Now, earning their respect does not mean that we are our students’ best friends. No. We need to be their teachers, not their buddies. That is a huge mistake that I see new teachers make. The “be their buddy” system does not work for long. Teaching children to follow rules and to respect others is going to help them massively in the long run.
Be fair. Wow. If there is anything that we can do to handle behavior, it is that we are just and fair. Speaking of respect, if students see you as fair, there may be no other greater compliment. Consequences need to be fair, and we need to make sure that we don’t over-react or under-react to particular situations.
I am going to stop there. There are MANY more rabbit holes which we can go down regarding behavior, and we will. This is kind of a primer for future discussion on the topic. But for today, we are at a stopping point…
