4Th year student

2. Discipline

You should enter a classroom for the first time. A lump in a throat, a shiver in fingers, the drops of cold sweat on a forehead … Familiar feeling?! No?!

It is what I exactly felt when initially walked into a classroom not as a student, but as a TEACHER.

Perhaps You will wonder: «We have studied pedagogy, child and adolescent psychology, FLT methodology, what to be afraid of?”

M y biggest fear during the internship was that students would not perceive me as a teacher, and, at best, they would forget about my presence, at worst, disrupt a lesson.

I didn't want any of these scenarios. I guess, you too.

Now, imagine the situation on the picture below. How will you handle the classroom discipline? What will be your actions for students 1,2,3…?

To answer the above question You should think about the goal of teaching: we want our students to learn!  Discipline is not about getting pupils to do what you want them to do. That's what dictators do, and you're not a dictator—you're an EDUCATOR.

Discipline is providing an environment in which positive teaching and positive learning can occur simultaneously. Discipline is not control from the outside; it's order from within.

In this chapter I will discuss the possible classroom management problems and trouble shooting, some helpful techniques that are going to come in handy, some practical and universal ideas that will help you achieve discipline in your classroom.

When you initially walk into a classroom, you do not access its effectiveness based on the students’ grades, writing skills, or state test scores.  Instead, you look to see how effective the classroom management is.  And every great teacher will tell you that you must first learn how to maintain classroom discipline before honing in on students’ academic goals and needs.  After all, how can you effectively teach and learn in an ineffective environment?  As you are a future teacher and some helpful techniques that are going to come in handy when you are faced with managing your classroom.

#1Consistency & Routine

T he teacher needs to be consistent in their response to discipline and inappropriate behavior. Students watch and notice if you are inconsistent. If you state a consequence for a certain type of inappropriate behavior, you should use that consequence every time. If you announce classroom rules, make sure they are followed by all students.

A lso, the teacher needs to stick to a routine in the classroom, giving kids a sense of consistency and predictability by letting children know what to expect from you. It is really important to have a routine for your class and to stick to it. Having a routine gives the students a sense of control. They know what to expect; they know what happens then.

#2 Use Time Wisely

Teachers with solid classroom management skills use their time wisely and fill it with a variety of activities.

M ake good use of every minute you have with the children in your class. Plan activities for the time of the lesson and then plan a little extra. Sometimes activities will not take as long as you think they will or the service may run over time. Always have something prepared to use with some extra time you have.

R emember! Not all children learn the same way and at the same pace. Some need more time to finish a certain exercise. When kids are engaged in a variety of interesting activities they have less time to misbehave.

# 3 Preparation

First, prepare yourself.

This means you need to spend some time during the week to plan your class time and look trough teaching material. Plan out illustrations, games, crafts, and activities and gather all the supplies you will need. So, take the time you need to be prepared.

S econd, prepare your classroom.

K nowing the goal for the class will help you as you prepare your classroom. When you know ahead of time what you want to accomplish during your class, you can set up your room to aid you in reaching that goal instead of distracting children from achieving it. Take the time to look at your classroom with students’ eyes. Ask yourself questions: What would they like to do first? How do they like the activities? What would make them focused and disciplined?

#4 Offer Choices

G ive over some of the control in your classroom to your students by offering acceptable, legitimate, significant choices. They would have an opportunity to practice decision-making and taking responsibility for their actions and you would be practicing solid classroom management.

If you are planning a class party, for example, let the kids help decide the theme of the party by offering different choice options.

# 5 Expectations

Let students know what your expectations are. Teachers should never assume that children understand what is expected of them in classroom situations.

Rules and expectations are similar. Rules should be clearly stated, ideally posted on the blackboard, and revised regularly. The expectation, then, would be that students should obey the rules.

Here are some examples of reasonable expectations:

• “Any questions asked must be about the lesson topic.”

• “If you have a question, raise your hand and wait for me to call on you.”

• “Everyone is expected to participate during lesson time.”

• “After playtime, it is expected that everyone helps clean up.”

#6 Reasonable Consequences

A consequence is the effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier. Good classroom management regularly uses reasonable consequences.

When a teacher makes use of reasonable consequences in his or her classroom, he or she is teaching his or her students to be accountable for their actions.

Here are some other examples of reasonable consequences:

• If a child uses rude or inappropriate speech during class, he or she should apologize for his or her words and try to to find a nice way to say the same thing.

• If 2 children are talking to each other instead of listening to the story/lesson, they would be separated so that they are do not sit together anymore.

Teach your kids that they are responsible for their behavior and there are consequences of this behavior.

During my internship in 8^th grade of secondary school, I found myself in a bit of a dilemma. When the bell rang, I knew that my class should be orderly and on task. But the children were all over the place. So, be ready to accept this bitter truth! You will have to try a lot of different strategies to calm down disruptive students. From my own experience I would like to propose you my Top – 3 cases (Who? What? Why?) you will certainly meet during your internship and proven ways to solve them (How?).

C ase #1

WWW? I had an activity on the board for the students to complete, but no one did it. Instead, they just kept chatting and laughing.

H ow? Remember! Never Raise Your Voice! Students are just waiting for you to yell at them. They love it. It gives them a chance to raise their voice and argue back. They love retelling stories about the teachers who "lost it." Instead, use the silent stare as I did. I stand in front of the class and simple stare at the class. One of the students gets the hint. Then I hear, “Shhh, shhh, shhh!” all over the room. I act like I did not even recognize the loudness in the room, and I start or resume.

Case# 2

W WW? I gave a listening task to students to complete, but most of them did not even try to do something.

H ow? Remember! Never Take Their “Toys”(smartphones, gadgets! If not then students will interrupt your lesson with phrases like: “Can I have it back? I won’t use it again.” Instead, from the very first lesson, my class and I arranged that someone who would use his or her phone during the lesson would come to the center and sing the song. The students quickly agreed, hoping that the lessons would turn into a show. However, at their age, 13-14 years, they didn't want to look stupid, classmates to laugh at them, since not everybody can sing. Therefore, our agreement has served me faithfully until the end of my internship.

C ase#3

WWW? As newcomers we are very interesting to our students. My 8^th graders were using class time to ask me personal questions, what certainly interrupts learning process.

How? Remember! Never Ignore Their Wish to Know You Better! Instead, in order to prevent my students from such a disruptive activity I proposed them to play the game “Two Truth and a Lie” at the end of each lesson.

H ere's how it works:

• We stand in a circle in order to see each other well.

• One person lists three "facts" about him/herself, except one of the "facts" is a lie. 

• We have a general discussion about the three "facts", the person who gave the facts stays quiet.

• Others guess which fact is a lie.

• The person sets the record straight by saying the lie, e.g., #3 was a lie. 

The game gives a real opportunity to know each other better and could be used as an Ice Breaker activity. As for me it helped to avoid answering confusing questions about my personality.

• Set rules and logical consequences

• Always have a plan in mind for handling misbehavior

• Be fair and consistent

• Get students engaged and involved in the lesson to prevent disruptions

N ow, after reading my section of brochure, I suppose, you have a clear view on ways how to make discipline enjoyable and easy-to-follow. Before you close our brochure I would like you to have a time for self-reflection what will certainly increase the comprehension of all information mentioned above:

Which ideas make the most sense for me and why
Questions that I have asked myself during the reading
What frightens me about the internship? How do I plan to deal with that fear?

Classroom discipline is essential, not only for a teacher’s piece of mind, but it is imperative for a positive and flourishing learning environment for students. Thus, Remember!

Happy Students = Effective Classroom