Strategy to spend less time disciplining and more time teaching in the classroom.
Teacher’s College is geared at preparing the student teacher to teach in the classroom but it only gives a class or two on how to deal with disruptive behavior in the classroom. Often new teachers come with great lessons but are easily discouraged when students are unwilling to participate and decide to act out during the teaching time. Engaging all students is vital to keep the classroom as a teaching arena and not a disciplinary one.
Students are children who come to school with a great deal of stuff in their emotional knapsacks. Some students are ridiculed on the school bus, others are neglected at homes, some are being sexually abused, others are given everything and the list goes on. As teachers, we desire the students to be willing to learn, but realistically most are bored, and acting out is their escape.
All students have something that grabs their attention. Intrigue the students by giving reasonable rewards for good behavior. Rewards can be as simple as a pencil, sitting at the teacher’s desk, computer time, no homework for a night and much more. Let the students assist in creating the rewards.
Good behavior is earned and it is important for students to realize their choices will make them come closer or farther away from their goal. Make students responsible for their rewards and you will be surprised at how disruptive students will try and abide by the rules.
How to Improve Student Behavior
Monthly create a calendar with smiley faces. Have a calendar for each student.
Each day a few minutes before class is dismissed give the students their calendar and they must decide if their behavior was excellent, good, satisfactory, or poor.
Choose a color to represent the different behavior. For example, poor is red, satisfactory is yellow, good is green, and excellent is purple. Ask students to decide on the colors. All students in the classroom use the same colors for the same behavior.
If a student colors the face a satisfactory or poor color they must write the reason underneath the face. For example, a student may write talking out, hitting, or yelling. For poor behavior the teacher may choose for the student to staple a think paper to the calendar to discuss the problem and how they will deal with it in the future.
After the month, the students calculate the number of points on the calendar and choose a reward that equals the points. For example, excellent 4 points, good 3 points, satisfactory 2 points, and poor 1 or 0 points.
On the rewards chart all students are able to receive a reward but the best rewards are worth more. Some students will be allowed to read quietly at their desk while others have computer time.
It is important for all students to receive a reward to gain the disruptive students confidence. The disruptive student does not have to be excellent every day to receive a good reward. As time progresses in the year, you will see students working for their rewards if they find them valuable. All students want something, sometimes the teacher needs to find out what it is.
