CHAPTER 5

1. CHAPTER 5 How Does Ronald Morrish Use Purposeful Teacher Guidance to Establish Class Discipline?

3. Teachers set the standards of behavior • Do not assume that all students already know how to behave responsibly • Students should not be involved in decisions concerning behavior standards and rules • Student behavior is non-negotiable (until they have matured)

4. Teachers should start by: • Teaching right from wrong • Teaching compliance to adult authority

5. Ronald Morrish • Teacher and behavior specialist - 26 years • Independent consultant – since 1997 • Author of three books

6. Morrish’s System in Short • Establish rules • Teach behavior (clarify expectations) • Require compliance • Redo misbehavior properly

7. Problems with Modern Discipline • School discipline is an ever growing problem • Student choice in determining proper school behavior is much to blame • Does not demand proper behavior • Students are asked to make a choice between acceptable behavior or some set of consequences • Students often have no fear of the consequences of unacceptable behavior

8. Real Discipline vs. Behavior Management • Behavior Management – Deals with whatever behavior students bring to the classroom – attempts to keep the classroom functional • Real Discipline – Teaches proper behavior – trains students to function within a structure of rules and limits

9. Real Discipline • Morrish calls his approach Real Discipline • Not a new theory but a set of organized techniques used for generations to mold behavior • Believes that young children are impulsive and self centered • Believes that students should not be over indulged and that they should be held accountable for their behavior

10. Real Discipline • Real Discipline teaches courtesy and consideration • Teaches social skills with respect for authority • Stresses that we must live with certain constraints and responsibilities within any social structure

11. A Few Maxims • Discipline is a process, not an event • Discipline is giving students the structure they need for proper behavior • The best time to teach behavior is when it isn’t needed • Discipline isn’t what you do when students misbehave. It is what you do so they won’t.

12. Three Phases of Real Discipline • Training for compliance • Teaching students how to behave • Managing student choice

13. Phase One: Training for Compliance • First phase involves training students to accept adult authority and comply with it automatically. Compliance should be taught as a nonthinking activity, such as saying “thank you”. • Students should be carefully trained in how to pay attention, follow directions, and speak respectfully, to the point they do these thing automatically.

14. Compliance is taught through directinstruction and close supervision. Morrish says to start small and you will see a general attitude of compliance grow out of small compliances. • Morrish says teachers should make the rules; there is no need to ask students if they agree with the rules and persist until the students follow the rules. The teacher’s word is final. There should not be bargaining between teachers and students

15. Phase Two: Teaching students how behave • Students understand the need for rules and will comply with them if they accept your authority. Today’s students must be taught what to do, if you are to have order and acceptable behavior in your classes. • Teachers should already have in place, classroom rules and have them taught to students through explanation, demonstration, practice, corrective feedback, and repetition.

16. Phase 3: Managing Students Choice. • Real discipline is called choice management. Students move toward a greater independence by offering them more choices as they show capability for handling them. Teachers must make certain choices and students should be allowed to make others. • If students don’t care about the outcome of a particular goal, they should not be allowed to make choices about it. Expect students to do quality work and accept nothing less.

17. Planning and Implementing the Discipline Program • Teachers need to ALWAYS be PROACTIVE • Anticipate problems and keep them from occurring and be prepared for problems that can occur • 11 Steps in Organizing a Discipline System: 1.Decide in advance how you want your students to behave. • Make students aware of how things will be done 2.Design the supporting structure. • Set procedures on how everything is done in the classroom • Ex: entering the classroom, late arrival, completed work 3.Establish a threshold for behavior at school. • Create a separation between school and outside school

18. 4.Run a two-week training camp. • Establish clear limits, routines, expectations and appropriate behaviors 5.Teach student how to behave appropriately. • Teach skills requires for school success • Dress appropriately • How to behave at school assemblies, on buses or cafeteria • “Ten Great Skills” pg 92 6.Set the stage for quality instruction. • Make classes interesting and worthwhile • Ask questions that force students to expand on thinking

19. 7.Provide active, assertive supervision. • Remind students of rules and expectations • Make eye contact, move with a sense of purpose • Let everyone see your presence 8.Enforce rules and expectations. • Establish natural authority and take charge of your students 9.Focus on prevention. • Make classes interesting and engaging 10.Set high standards. • Challenge your students and get them excited about learning 11.Treat parents as partners. • Keep parents informed • Communication is key

20. Developing Teacher Student Relationships Tips of how to strengthen teacher student relationships: 1. Consistently focus on the positive. • Look for things students do right 2. Wipe the slate clean after students make mistakes. • Deal with the mistake in a positive manner and move on • Don’t hold grudges 3. Don’t back away from discipline. • Students need the structure • The know it is you showing concern for them 4. Lead the way. • Students learn more from watching you 5. Never humiliate students when correcting their misbehaviors. • Show students how to behave properly 6. Don’t accept mediocrity. • Set standards • You are not your students friend

21. Consequences in Real Discipline • Consequences when structured right can be helpful in teaching. • Consequences are not punishments. • It involves teaching students proper behavior and uses practice to enforce good behavior. • Punishment is only applied when the concept of “no means no” is not understood by the students. • Punishment is not used in a negative way, but in a positive way to correct the students behavior.

22. About Motivation and Rewards • You can make students cooperative in their learning by both making it enticing and not giving them any other option. • The purpose for discipline is to make students do what isn’t desirable to them. • Real Discipline teaches students to stay on task and complete work that might not be appealing to them. • Don’t over praise and/or reward students for completing tasks that they were expected to finish.

23. When Students Fail To Comply • Students who do not follow directions are often “punished”, but this does not teach any lesson. • Whatever the disagreeable behavior is the student should be asked to try or say it again in a more appropriate way. -Avoid if-then statements, -“If you speak to me in that manner again, then you will be going to the principal’s office.”

24. There are a few things teachers should do if they wish to help build self-esteem in students, -Allow students to fail -Make sure you show the importance of succeeding -Control misbehavior and let students know they can not say or do whatever they want without consequences • Self-esteem comes from being and feeling knowledgeable about what you are doing and knowing how to problem solve through situations.

25. Don’t Promote Self-Indulgence • Many educators often see self-esteem as the cause of antisocial behavior. • Morrish believes that the opposite is true, that success or failure in school influences self-esteem.

26. The student should not be given a choice. Teacher should insist they fix their behavior immediately and try again. • Punishment should be used only if student refuses to listen. In which case they should be sent away for a short time and asked to correct their behavior when they return.

27. Morrish says that these actions will cause students to realize they can not act in disrespectful ways and should be asked to correct them selves immediately to stop the behavior. Punishment is not enough.