Lets take a look at each of these four aspects of Gordon’s model:

Become Equal with Your Students

The idea here is that a good leader will not dictate to his followers but come from another angle that creates mutual respect. Teachers are to engage in active listening where they repeat back to the student what the student said, in the teachers own words, to indicate that he understood.

The benefit of this concept is that in an adult situation, leaders who do not dictate get a better response from followers. The issue is that students are not yet adults. In fact, research shows that the decision making part of their brain is not fully matured for quite some time, making it vital for the teacher to set boundaries and limitations on the students.

Throw Out Class Rules

The actual concept here is that students will together come up with what Gordon calls “agreements” in place of teacher dictated “rules”. They are to be hung where all students can see them.

This is not dissimilar to hundreds of teachers who have their students come up with the class rules at the beginning of the school year, with the exception of the name. The benefit of calling the rules “agreements” is that this might make children who are driven to push the rules, to instead, follow them. The problem with this is that in the end, agreements are nothing more than class rules.

Teach Problem Solving Skills

There is a process to solving a problem:

1. Identify the problem
2. Identify several solutions to the problem
3. Choose a solution mutually agreeable to all involved
4. Implement solution
5. Determine the solution’s success

I see no problems with this at all. In fact, I think more parents and teachers should use this problem solving strategy in their classrooms and homes. Children need to learn how to solve problems.

Use I-Messages

An I-message is one that explains how one person’s behavior affected you and made you feel. For example, “when you do that, it makes me feel this way”. This is the method that teachers are to handle discipline issues in the classroom.

The only benefit, if it is a benefit, that I can find with this is that it does not confront students head-on. It does help to identify ones feelings, but in the end, many students couldn’t care less how their teacher felt about their behavior. This aspect of Gordon’s model of classroom management has the potential to make a lot of teachers very permissive.

Find out more about the Thomas Gordon Model of Classroom Management:

Using the Thomas Gordon Classroom Management Method

The Gordon Model

Thomas Gordon (this is another critique)

Gordon Training International (the official website)

Related posts:

1. Classroom Management a Team Issue
2. Reflection is the Best Remedy
3. Lesson Plans that Prevent Discipline Problems

Have a conference with the child prior to setting up the behavior plan and explain that there will be a plan targeting this specific behavior problem and that as the child improves his behavior, you want to provide rewards. Allow the child to provide input into what rewards he will receive for proper behavior.

Guide this conversation so that it does not turn into a pot of gold situation where you can’t assign homework or some other important aspect of learning. It is also vital that every reward is agreed upon by both the teacher and student and that those rewards are the only ones used on the behavior plan. Otherwise the plan will fail because the student will not find the rewards motivating.

Related posts:

1. Choosing a Target Behavior
2. Behavior Plans
3. Success Story: Let the Students Decide

According to Singapore Education Consultants, the lack of reasoning effectively helps to kill student curiosity. Part of the argument posed is that “making an effort to reason with the students and coming to a common understanding with the students helps students to take responsibility for what happens in the class.”

Every teacher would agree that having students help students, students taking responsibility and common understanding in the classroom are all huge factors that will help with any management plan. Many teachers misunderstand the focus behind reasoning with students, though.

Reasoning with students is not pleading with a student to understand the teacher’s viewpoint, or even trying to convince a student that a particular viewpoint is correct. This type of reasoning will only earn the teacher the reputation of being a push-over and create more out-of-control behavior in the classroom.

Instead, teachers need to use circumstances that come up to teach reasoning skills. When a student gets mad, it is vital that the child learns how to handle that anger in appropriate ways. Simply following the class rules to not hit or throw things is not enough. But then again, nor is following the law enough in the real world. Teachers need to be taking steps to teach students how to handle their emotions in appropriate ways while staying within the confines of the class rules or state laws.

Related posts:

1. Kindergarten Behavior Plan Example
2. Rethink Your Classroom Rules
3. Obama’s Speech Opportunity for Behavior Management

While President Obama talks to students about setting and meeting goals this school year, teachers should look for ways to incorporate the class expectations into those goals.

Teachers can have class discussions about how students can meet the goals they set, using real goals as examples, and guide students into understanding how the class rules will help them meet those goals.

One possible activity is to have students pair goals with each class rule. So if the class rule is to raise your hand before speaking, a goal that can be paired with that rule is to learn to be more respectful of others in the classroom.

Some other ideas for pairing class rules with student goals:

• Stay seated in class – Do your best on all seat work/complete all assignments
• Always Walk in school – work slowly and carefully on assignments just as you walk slowly and carefully in the halls
• Be respectful of others – Respect the teacher’s time and write with neat handwriting

Have students help in pairing up goals with the class rules.

Read on for more extension ideas, or check out lesson plan ideas for President Obama’s Speech.

Related posts:

1. Checklist for Writing Class Rules
2. Behavior Plans
3. Rethink Your Classroom Rules

She let her class decide on the punishment for disobeying the rules. They decided that if they received two warnings, they should have to write a BCR for homework in addition to their regular homework. The BCR would be due the next day.

If they still did not shape up, then upon the fourth warning they would have to leave class.

In order to return to class the student would still have to hand in a BCR.

Megan has found that her students are quick to listen to her instructions and she rarely has to assign more than one BCR to any one student throughout the school year.

Related posts:

1. Success Story: Having Confidence
2. Two Musts for the End of the School Year
3. Succes Story: Silent Lesson