Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1067015
Teaching and Learning 23 Classroom discipline by Greg Herold A topic that routinely ranks among the top two or three that educators desire more training or professional development in is that of classroom management/classroom discipline. It is a topic that every staff member in public education deals with everyday of his or her career. A simple Google search yielded 166,000,000 hits on the phrase "classroom discipline" alone. To support our members, and unable to synthesize 166,000,000 websites into this article, I went to our members and asked them what works for them in their classrooms. Chris Garcia, 34th year teaching high school science. Currently teaching at East High School, Cheyenne, WY. As unique individuals, every teacher brings a diff erent personality and skillset to the classroom which naturally works its way into classroom discipline. My approach to classroom discipline varies with each individual class and, in some cases, each individual student. In general, I try to treat my students as I would like a teacher to treat my own children. This approach tends to work well to establish a relaxed atmosphere of mutual respect between teacher and students. Alexis Barney, 4th year teaching 4th and 5th grade at Evansville Elementary School, Evansville, WY. I work very hard to build positive relationships with each student to build mutual respect within the classroom, both teacher to student and student to student. When the students know that they are respected and cared about as people, they will be more apt to give respect and show kindness to others. I take a very proactive approach in holding them to high expectations of behavior and decorum. Using Ron Clark's Essential 55, students see that the way we act and behave now, builds habits for future behavior, both in and out of the classroom. It encourages ownership of one's own actions. I even demonstrate and hold myself accountable to the expectations, which continues to support the grounds for respect in the classroom. When a student breaks one of the rules or is disrespectful, they take ownership of their actions because they would expect someone else to do the same. Samantha Knapp, 13 years teaching - 11 total years at Cottonwood Elementary in Wright, Wyoming. I have found over the years that going over my expectations right away helps my students and me get on the same page. I also ask that they provide me with expectations, so we are both held accountable. Having that clear understanding gives us both guidelines to follow. Sunny Schuler, 12th year teaching high school science (most in Southern Utah and now at Evanston High School) in Evanston, WY. There's no secret here... it all boils down to building positive relationships with your students. I try to fi nd ways to pull out information that teaches me about my student's backgrounds, interests, fears, and general attitudes on diff erent topics. This could be through various journal