Classroom Management or Classroom Discipline – Your Choice!

1. Classroom Management or Classroom Discipline – Your Choice! Jan Fechelm, CSISD; Julie Harlin, TAMU

2. “I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.” Dr. Haim Ginott

3. An Old Video Sets the Stage…. Click Here to View

4. Classroom Procedures • TEACH procedures for the following: • Turning in work • Bathroom passes • Entering/exiting the room • Anything else they will need to do often • If you don’t know your procedures, how can you expect students to follow them? • Video Example “We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.” Phyllis Diller

5. Classroom Rules • Short, positive statements on how students should behave • Limit to 5-6 statements • ARE NOT Procedures • Includes consequences (refer to your school’s handbook to see what you CAN have as a consequence) • Should be posted for all to view (and used a reminder for yourself and students)

6. An Example… • Be prepared • Be respectful • Be responsible • Be involved! • Make the right choice the FIRST time! “If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others.” Dr. Haim Ginott quote

7. Bell Work • Lead in activity that students do as they enter the room • Should relate to your classroom content, current events, TAKS testing, etc. • Can be a decisive factor in how your class begins!

8. Examples of Bell Work? • Thought question • Daily journal • Others?

9. Common Mistakes in the Classroom That Lead to Problems • All time, #1 mistake…..If you say it, you MUST do it! • Talking while they are talking. • Losing your cool. (Calm is strength!)

10. Standard Operating Procedure for Misbehavior • Ignore the behavior if possible. If it stops, great! • Make eye contact. It says, “I see you – so cut it out!” (See “Teacher Look”) • Proximity, proximity, proximity! • Pause and wait for student to stop behavior. • Remind student what they should be doing. • Be a name dropper. (“Did you know Sarah that Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system?”) • Never over dwell – Praise, prompt and leave (Fred Jones) • Be sure to respond, “Thank you!”

11. Standard Operating Procedure for EXTREME Misbehavior • First, determine what “extreme misbehavior” is in your classroom. • An example: A Fight Breaks Out • What to do? • Call for help using the phone or intercom • Document the incident in writing while everything is still fresh (See the Discipline Referral Form) • Let the administrators handle it from there “Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.” ― Aristotle

12. Reasons for Misbehavior • Attention seeking. “Hey, look at me!” • Minimize the behavior • Distract the student • Comment on others appropriate behavior • Don’t reward their behavior with attention – that’s what they want! • Catch them being good – 3 times more powerful ! (Teach them that they can get attention for doing the RIGHT thing!)

13. Reasons for Misbehavior • Power seeking. “You can’t make me!” • Several forms; tantrums, sass, “lawyer syndrome”. • It takes two to argue! • Stay calm. • Focus on behavior, not student. • Allow student to save face. • Don’t fight back. • Grant them some power – delegate responsibility “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ― William Arthur Ward

14. Reasons for Misbehavior • Revenge Seeking. “I’ll get even!” • Students lashes out because of real or imagined hurts. • A lot of scowling and sulking. • Ignore if you can – report real threats! • Try and distract them / interest them in something.

15. Reasons for Misbehavior • Avoidance-of-failure. “I can’t – so why try?” • They feel they can’t live up to their own, their teacher’s, their families expectations. So they withdraw. • Often become the “class clown” or the procrastinator. • Convince than that mistakes are OK. • Modify the instruction. • Teach alternate procedure. “Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.” ― Jacques Barzun

16. Last Lesson… • The TEACHER LOOK… • Practice in the mirror and with each other until you can do it on demand without smiling! • This look will stop disruptive behavior before it becomes a problem “I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” ― Albert Einstein

17. Review some issues… • See Case Studies Handout

18. Tips for a Conflict-Free Classroom • Plan and post your rules and procedures • Plan your lessons well and have a backup plan in case you run short • Stay calm, focus on the behavior, & don’t argue • Stick to your plan on the above “When you study great teachers... you will learn much more from their caring and hard work than from their style.” ― William Glasser

19. Remember…. • An active, busy, focused classroom will have fewer problems than an unstructured, random classroom. • You can always loosen up if you start more structured; You will have real problems if you try to structure a loosened up environment • YOU set the tone and environment for the classroom!

20. Keep Classroom Management in Perspective Read Stories Here Teddy Stallard Story