Have you ever wondered why classroom behavior management is such a huge issue for some teachers and not others? Please explain what you feel are some of the most significant factors pertaining to behavior management. What techniques, that you deem effective, have you observed throughout your educational journey?
posted by Mrs.Long @ 4:07 PM
16 Comments
I am a teacher at Buckeye Career Center! This is my 10th year of teaching; however, it's my third year as the Teaching Professions instructor. I am a graduate of Kent State University where I received my degree in Social Studies Education. I have also attained my Master's degree in Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction through Walden University. I have been married for ten years. My husband and I have two children, Chloe and Carson. We are also expecting our third child in January.
16 Comments:
I think it’s important for teachers to stick with rules and discipline. Some teacher’s don’t stick with it and the whole class gets out of control. I think all teachers should have something like a color wheel that gives the children an idea of when they get warnings. I think the color wheel would be more respectful for the children so they know how close they are to getting in trouble. I think it would remind the teachers on what color each child is on. Some teachers stick with these rules and show the children they're not there to be their friends, they’re there to help them learn and if the children are not willing to learn then those are the children who are going to be in trouble all the time. If a teacher lacks off and tries to be the children's friend then the children are not going to learn anything and the behavior will be out of control. Those teachers that let their children get out of control are the teachers who always have the lower class averages. Everyone should have a classroom management in their room, not only for negative situations but positive too.
I think it is important for teachers to stick to the school rules plus the rules they make for their own classroom. Teachers have to also have a line between being nice to the students and being their friends. Being organized and knowing what is going on day to day is another thing teachers need to do to have classroom management. A couple things I have seen in the past are having the students come up and write their names on the board themselves instead of the teacher writing it. I think it lets the student know that he/she actually got in trouble. If the student would misbehave again they would have to put a check mark by their name, this would be an extra minute sitting out of recess. Also I have seen that when a class is getting out of hand the teacher will just sit town and stop teaching, it let the class know that if we did not do it during school or get it done we would have more homework to do at night since we were acting up in class we could not get it done. I think that it was a good way to get us to settle down and pay attention to the teacher so they would be able to finish their lesson.
New teachers, mainly in the high-school level, never want to be “the bad guy” or “the mean teacher” so they overcompensate by trying to be their students friends. I personally have seen many cases where a teacher is almost too nice right off the bat and it ends up turning them into a push over the rest of the year. A teacher has to know the difference between being friendly and being friends. Those sort of teachers heads are in the right place, but they need to know that they must also show authority or the students will think they could get away with anything. Another factor is respect. When a teacher doesn’t respect a student then they cannot expect the students to give them their respect. If a student hates to go into a class with a certain teacher, they will not have a desire to learn.
One teacher I have had in the past that made sure he was friendly without being a push over was a teacher I had my sophomore year. He made his rules known the first day without being rude or mean and he didn’t show any sort of favoritism between students. Throughout the year we respected the fact that he wanted us to learn and wanted us to do well in school, and that gave us a better student-to-teacher relationship because he respected us as well.
I feel that the most important factors pertaining to classroom management is consistency. The teachers have to keep to their rules and not let any child slide. Establish a set of rules that explains what you want in the classroom. Also have consistency with punishment, don’t be a push over; be a teacher not a friend. Don’t show favoritism to certain students because the ones that don’t as much attention will act out to get the attention. To help to have consistency is have a behavior chart. Have stars for their good behavior, or good choices they make, or even help out.
Only a few of my teachers have ever used actual discipline techniques. I believe it was in first grade when the only form of discipline was writing our names on the board and getting check marks. In second grade, my teacher used 3 colors- green, yellow, and red. We all had a little pocket on this cubby with pieces of construction paper that color in it. If you got a warning, then you got the yellow piece. If you were in more trouble, you got the red piece. I thought that was effective because everyone could see if you had gotten into trouble or not and it was embarassing to me (so I didn't get into trouble often.) Anymore though, I think if you just talk with the students and tell them your expectations, things go pretty well. You have to be a tough teacher and not let the students walk all over you, but also be a friendly, nice teacher. Combining the two would be hard, but I think it can be done.
I have never wondered why some people struggle with classroom management more than others. We are all different. We have different areas we are good in. I think a teacher should have classroom rules and the kids should be made to follow them. It may be hard but to keep a working classroom kids need a teacher who will enforce rules and lead them. I have come to realize none of us are similar. With different kids comes different ways to make a behavior change effectively. Someone I know has to have a reward for doing something others just like to go with the flow and keep the teacher happy. Force never works is also what I have learned so if you keep a positive attitude and never get mad you will very rarely have a problem with the kids behavior.
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I feel that some teachers stuggle with discipline and others don't because they don't enforce the rules. Teachers need to discipline a student when they are doing something they aren't suppose to be doing. Rules need to be set from the beginning and they need to be enforced from the beginning. In elementary school I got in trouble because someone tripped me and I fell onto the trashcan. I feel that was favoritism. When teachers pick favorites it makes other student feel hated and left out. When it comes to teaching an elementary school gold stars and good behavior treats work very well, but in middle school and high school we need parties for good behavior or something that would spark our interests.
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Behavior management is one of the most important things in a classroom. All teachers should have to set good classroom rules and stick to them; they could even get their students to help with the rules. If a student breaks the rules they should get punished in an effective way. I think along with posting the rules teachers should post punishments, also the punishments need to be consistent with every student. I think a good way to try to help stop a student or class getting in trouble would be writing names on the board, when I was younger I did not want to have my name on the board and I don't think anyone did. Giving strikes is also effective for the whole class, like if the class gets three strikes they have to get a homework assignment or no talking. Along with punishing comes praising which I think students of all age levels should get. In younger classes there could be stars on posters and in older classrooms you could get candy or being able to talk for the last 5-10 minutes of class. I think those techniques have worked since I've been in school.
I believe to follow the school rules and also establishing your own classroom rules is a good start. But to keep the students from acting out you have to show them some punishments like lay out the consequences when you are explaining the rules. If doing so you must be able to uphold the rules and consequences you established. A demerit system I think is a good way to keep track so there is no and if's or buts’ about it when a student gets into trouble. It lets you know right where they are and doesn't let them see how far they can get away with things; when they reach a certain mark there are no arguments. Also these charts don't just let you start throwing out detentions it gives students a chance and doesn't make them hate you from the start. When a student gets to a minor consequence it also helps you to know "ok maybe I should talk to this student about his/her behavior. Also I strongly don’t think you should favor any student athlete star student or bad kid everyone has the same consequences at the same mark. Lastly a chart for good behavior is also a good thing because it makes students want to act and behave well to get that little reward at the end.
Respect is definitely the most important factor when it comes to having kids not act out in class. If a teacher presents themselves as total pushovers no one will respect them. If a teacher is worried about having students behave, they need to establish a presence. A teacher can do this by starting class by saying this is what we are doing today, and then doing it. Some teachers actually change their lesson plans completely on the fly just because some students start complaining, this strips all sense of leadership from the teacher putting the students in charge. Also a teacher needs to actually enforce the rules they put in place. If the rule is 2 points off on a homework assignment for everyday that it is late, and every time a paper is handed in a week late with no deduction, it is going to give the students the sense that they can get away with anything.
August 27, 2010 10:07 AM
I feel that in the classroom the teachers should follow the rules and regulation that the schools or principals give them witch is basically consistency. I feel this way because if your not going to obey the school rules about discipline then why should you even punish your students who break the rules because you have already broken the school rules and are not setting a very good example. Back when I was in school I know that when our teacher put your name on the board you knew that was your warning and if you got 3 check marks you were in trouble. I feel that this worked best when I was in elementary school. This is how I feel about behavior management and how teachers today should just follow there school rules.
I feel the most important factors pertaining to classroom behavior management is treating all the students the same. The teachers need to apply the same rules to each student and not let some students slide on by when they misbehave. Also teachers should reward students that behave well, so that the other students will want to be good, to get the reward too. Some effective ways to get students to behave that are younger would be to give rewards or when they misbehave write their name on the board until they stop misbehaving. For the older students threaten them with detentions or give them so many chances.
I feel that in the classroom those teachers should follow rules and regulations that the school has given them to follow. Teachers should also have rules that they follow on their own terms like; no talking while the teachers talking, not touching things that don’t belong to you, or the old one if you can't say anything nice don’t say it at all. Most schools have some kind of policy like Indian valley has the no bullying policy but most teachers do not follow these rules and regulations. I feel that as a teacher parents are trusting you with their children when they are not with them. When the children are with their teachers they should be taking care and looking out for their better interests. So maybe some teachers don’t want to punish the kids and maybe some are too scared to do it, either way when a child is in the wrong they need to know why their actions were not right. If I become a teacher I will use the three strike policy or writing the name on the board or other methods to get across to my students what is acceptable and what isn’t.
You have all raised some valid points pertaining to behavior management! You will find that your own experiences and personal stories will help better prepare you for a career in education.
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