The other day I was leaving the post office and saw the smiles of people I passed as I thanked my daughter for listening and being such a good helper (she stayed by my side while in the post office). This is basic two year old discipline – I am teaching my daughter the proper way to act in public and when she does a good job, I praise her for it, confirming her actions to be appropriate.
The topic of praising students is a sticky subject and some teachers disagree with praising students for doing things they should do out of respect, and only thank students for going above and beyond the call of duty.
The problem with his concept, though, is that the job of teaching children to act appropriately in different situations, as I did my daughter at the post office, belongs to the parent. While many parents are willing to take the time to teach their children these skills, many put their children in daycare instead, and let someone else will take care of the discipline. Day care workers are not substitutes for parental teaching and many teachers find themselves with students who are not trained to act appropriately in the classroom.
In a recent post on why saying “good job” is bad, I addressed the idea that praise needs to be specific in the classroom. Indeed, praise needs to be specific, and hold the double purpose of both creating a positive classroom atmosphere and teaching the children the appropriate way to act in the classroom.
Do your students benefit from parental discipline or does that job end up falling to you as the teacher? Share your stories!
With so many different students and teachers and schools, it might seem hard to pinpoint the top three mistakes teachers make in managing their classrooms. There is some basic same-ness that allows for such a broad classification, though.
1. Raising your voice.
Raising your voice will only serve to escalate the problem. Even if the students quiet down or listen for a moment, it is only a temporary fix and will in fact cause more classroom management problems down the road.
2. Ignoring students.
This is different than ignoring student behavior, something that is sometimes necessary. Instead, a teacher who ignores students, or who is checked out, not caring about what happens in her classroom, is doing her students a huge disservice. If this is you, it is time to find a new job.
3. Relying on Parents.
This one is a sad truth about the culture of America today and in some situations is not true. While some parents are involved and do discipline their children, even for actions done at school, the age of a parent backing a teacher is in the past. It is time for teachers to find new ways to discipline children because threatening with a note or phone call home is becoming a useless act.
Smile
Be positive
Greet each student by name
Hold your head high
Make eye contact
Be gracious
Be patient
Be firm
Be consistent
Have students
Help each other
Demonstrate important behaviors
State clear rules
Predetermine consequences
Make learning fun
Know your student’s names
Over plan lessons
Involve parents
Genuinely care
Ask questions
Know which questions to not ask
Demand respect
Open lines of communication
Hold classroom meetings
Take time to be silly
Encourage sharing
Diversify lesson activities
Be aware of culture
Be there when students need to talk
Post rules where students can see them
Read to students
Be genuine
Be committed
Collaborate with other teachers
View each day as a new day
Give second chances
Apologize when you make a mistake
Praise student effort
Be specific in praise
State intentions clearly
Re-teach rules and consequences as necessary
Be strong
Do not show fear
Leave troubles at home
Be present
Explain expectations
Never give up
Eat lunch with students
Create individual behavior plans when necessary
Allow students some say in positive rewards
Allow students to earn rewards
Set goals
Ask students to set goals
Encourage students to help each other
Take time to have fun
Share jokes
Laugh
Expect more from students
Ask for advice
Learn from other teachers
Take time for your own family
Believe in your students
Make lessons obtainable for all students
Provide visual aspects to all lessons
Provide auditory aspects to all lessons
Provide kinesthetic aspects to all lessons
Try a new seating arrangement
Rewrite class rules
Have students decide on class rules
Have students decide on class consequences
Never raise your voice
Avoid showing frustration
Do not show anger
Listen when students talk to you
Provide uplifting activities for students
Discourage tattle tails
Teach students not to bully
Teach students to treat each other properly
Do not repeat warnings
Make consequences fit the crime
Make the classroom a safe place
Be a trustworthy confidant
Send positive notes home
Encourage students to share with the class
Look for the reason behind a behavior
Find ways to encourage every student each day
Prevention is the best method
Have a plan in place
Keep a June box for confiscated objects in class
Relax!
Count to 10 before responding to a child pushing your buttons
Ignore attention seeking behavior
Develop a good relationship with the school counselor
Remember that learning is fun
Create fun and engaging activities
Do not beg students to obey
Expect obedience
Respect students
Don’t be afraid to change
Learn how to say no
Practice transitions
Have fun!
Students who acted up in class used to be disciplined three times. First by the teacher, second by the parent for misbehaving and third by the parent for embarrassing the family in front of the class by disobeying and making the teacher discipline. Parents did not question the teacher, and teachers knew that their discipline efforts would be supported by the parents. Those days are gone.
Now, teachers struggle to gain parental involvement and support for the positive things their children do, much less support their disciplinary efforts. This requires teachers to discipline children often without any support from home at all. It is important for teachers to understand this, and know for sure whether a parent is supportive of disciplinary efforts so that efforts in the classroom are not undermined.
A teacher who does not follow through with a warning or threat of disciplinary action will be the teacher that student know as the push-over. While many parents become push-overs and create classroom management issues for teachers by raising spoiled children, teachers need to be consistent and follow-through on their words.
If the teacher knows that the parent will not back a disciplinary action up at home, it is important that the teacher utilize some other strategy of discipline. Children who know that their parents will not discipline them at home do not care whether a phone call home or note home happens.
For more information on the lack of parental support, read about the drop-off generation.
More related information:
Increase parental support in the classroom
Home Visits Help Improve Parental Involvement
