Students respond differently to different types of discipline. One student may respond really well to a punishment while another student may only respond to rewarded good behavior. It may take some trial and error, but a little effort will result in a well behaved and focused class.
Write a Brief Constructed Response
Megan Hartman’s class decided that they should have to write a BCR for homework upon the second warning and be asked to leave the class upon the fourth warning. In order to return to class the student would still have to hand in a BCR. This method provides incentive for the students to obey, as well as an academic challenge when they disobey.
Instructional Time for Recess Time
Using a stop watch, keep track of the amount of time that your instructional time is interrupted by a discipline problem. Then at recess time, explain to the whole class that since they used your instructional time for their own purposes, you get to you some of their recess time for your instructional time. Provide a simple quiet activity for the class to complete during the amount of time you are keeping them in, such as independent reading, or opportunity to get started on their homework. The idea is that by keeping the entire class in, peer pressure will convince the one or two students who disrupt the class to start listening.
Addressing Bad Language
Jody S. from New York addresses bad language in a unique way. Instead of directly addressing a student who uses inappropriate language in class, she effectively translates the language for the student. For example, when the student uses poor language choices in reference to an assignment, she calmly rewords the complaint by saying something like: this is difficult and is frustrating me. This throws the students off guard and as she continues to translate the language, the students get the idea, the situation remains calm, and the students learn more appropriate vocabulary to express themselves.
Catch Students Being Good
Crystal Alfano-Gallegos uses raffle tickets and walks around the room to catch students being good. She then raffles off prizes once a month. Sometimes she raffles off prizes weekly or even daily. This idea will cost some money to provide simple prizes, but the pay off will be a well behaved class that strives to be the best they can. Crystal uses the idea to teach her students about probability as well.
Write an Apology Letter
When catching a student making fun of another student, require a letter of apology written to the student. This letter then needs to go home and receive a parent signature, then be brought back to school and read aloud in front of the class. This punishment is very effective, and you will most likely only have to enforce it once before students get the idea that they are to be encouraging to one another.
Allow the Students to Decide
Many of the best ideas for student discipline, including several mentioned in this article, were thought up by students. Allowing the students to decide on the method of punishment for misbehaving will result in a more effective classroom management plan as students will become the classroom police for one another as well as ensure that the punishment is carried out.
Be creative when coming up with a new discipline strategy for an unruly class or student. What works for one class may not work for your next class, so keep that in mind when deciding each year how you will manage discipline problems.
Learn more classroom management techniques.
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