The need for effective classroom management requires students being able to overcome obstacles to self-control and promotion of good self-discipline.
There are 2 basic causes of poor student behavior:
1. Internal – within the school
2. External – family, peers and cultural factors
INTERNAL CAUSES
Students are most likely to be disruptive and undisciplined when they feel:
· Unwelcome
· Feel inferior
· Hopeless
· Feeling victimized
· Bad behavior is expected
· A need to succeed at something
School personnel can minimize student anger and disruptive behavior by:
· Treating students with dignity and respect
o Don’t ridicule, belittle in from of others
· Teaching students to behave responsibly
o Have to be taught appropriate social behavior
· Understanding and responding appropriately to habitual behavior, i.e. sucking finger, twitching
o Stay calm, don’t embarrass or demean
· Giving students more of what they need
o When students feel that their teachers care about them, they are less likely to misbehave. Show appreciation of improved student behavior and effort
· Modeling the behavior you expect
o Teachers have to model self-control in order to facilitate self-control in their students
EXTERNAL CAUSES
· Family and home influences – parents
· Cultural influences – rap artists, music, movies, TV stars
· Peer pressure – us vs. them mentality
PREVENTIVE STRATEGIES FOR DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS
· Take time to discuss lifelong goals
· Remember all children have a special gift, let them shine
· Success is a process, not just a destination – assign projects
· Give students responsibility by assigning roles in classroom
o “Adults who stress obedience and conformity in order to develop polite and manageable children inadvertently lower their students’ motivation to achieve.”
· Make students a part of the rule – enforcement process
o Social contract – give a feeling of ownership and responsibility
· Show students you respect them, i.e. eat lunch, acknowledge when absent, take time to talk
WHAT TO DO WHEN STUDENTS CONTINUE TO MISBEHAVE?
· Punish the behavior, not the person
· Discipline students with a firm but loving touch
Create alternatives to suspension and detention
