Good discipline and the No Child
Left Behind are compatible when teachers consider
proven
strategies, according to Todd Johnson, senior
consultant, Rivertown Consultants, who delivered
his message in an Assembly titled, “Classroom
Discipline in the NCLB Era: Helping Your Teachers
Establish Both Respect and Responsibility in
Their Classroom."
Johnson based his session on three philosophical
guidelines that he believes are the foundation
for good classroom discipline:
1. Teachers should treat
their students as they would like to be
treated—not now as an
adult but as they would have liked to be treated
when they were the students’ ages.
2. Teachers should do only 50 percent of the
work in the classroom. Some teachers work extremely
hard; others do too little. One key to effective
discipline is to get the students to work as
hard as the teacher.
3. Teachers must realize they can only
influence behavior; they can’t change it. There’s
no way teachers can “make kids behave” although
some still believe they can.
Johnson urged principals to communicate
these guidelines to their teachers.
He cautioned that teachers need to understand
tight-loose polarity in the classroom.
“The tight teacher is an authoritarian;
the loose one is totally student-centered,” he
said. “There are advantages to both styles,
but there are also disadvantages. The most
effective teacher is one who can be both and
flow between the two styles.
Additionally, he offered three approaches
for handling mildly defiant students:
1. Low level
intervention—There
are small things teachers can do to stop the
bad
behavior before it becomes a big problem,
Johnson advised. They include staring at the
student,
some kind of gesture, snapping fingers, or
standing by the student. Another is to state
the obvious.
“
It’s better to say to the student, ‘You
are talking’ instead of ‘Quit talking’.
That way, students aren’t placed on
the defensive.”
2. Broken record—Here the teacher repeats
whatever you want the student to do. Just say, “Have
a seat, have a seat, have a seat.” Then
it’s unlikely you’ll get into
an argument with the student, and kids love
to
argue.
3. Behavioral
contracts—Many
of us have used behavioral contracts where
the student
writes what they did, what they could have
done, and what they will do in the future.
Johnson also challenged principals to work
to eliminate put downs students may use on
each other.
“If you want to get rid of violence,
start with putdowns. Many people don’t
realize how destructive they are. It starts
with name calling, then moves to shoving, then
escalates into something worse.”
More information about Johnson can be obtained
at www.web.triton.net/river.
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