Top Classroom Discipline Management Strategies

A good teacher knows how to manage classroom, implementing discipline and relating rules. But is it essential to learn discipline management strategies?

Yes! as an educator it is must that before entering your class you are well aware of all the techniques and strategies which are essential to create a successful disciplined classroom. Classroom management combined with an effective discipline plan is the key to help you see some important steps in dealing with discipline problems that may arise in your classroom. The best way to learn these strategies and technique is to consult or search for other teacher’s ideas.

Classroom management is a skill that is not only learned but practiced daily. These tips can help you cut down on discipline problems and leave you with fewer interruptions and disruptions. Perhaps the single most important aspect of teaching is classroom management. You can’t successfully teach your students if you are not in control.

Classroom discipline management strategies:

Don’t discipline an entire class for the misdeeds of a single student, or a group of students. For instance, often a teacher will hold an entire class after the dismissal bell rings to punish some general behavior. Part of the philosophy behind this action is that the entire class will bring the misbehaving students into compliance with the teacher’s wishes so that they can leave on time and not be late to their next class, lunch, etc. However, the students committing the disapproved actions may be beyond any coercion power the rest of the class may bring to bear. So the teacher’s actions of punishing the class may not bring the desired results. Instead the results may be mostly negative.

When an entire class is punished, there are at least four or five innocent students that grow in resentment for being punished for the guilt of someone else, perhaps some that they dislike and or fear. These students are then forced into a grouping with the others. Also there will be those in the class that go along with the strongest, or the most interesting, or amusing force in the classroom. Punishing the entire class brings all of these groups into alliance against the teacher.

1.) If a teacher will concentrate closely it will become apparent that there are usually one, two, or three students that lead out in behavior either positive or negative. Make a mental list of those who are leading in negative behavior. Discipline those students, not the entire class. Quickly removing a negative leader has an impressive effect on the others. [You may have to remove two or three students.]

2.) During this process the orderly students will support and approve, at least tacitly. The ‘middle group’ will go with whoever has the controls and power. The problem students will either submit or be removed from class. Usually, when one or two students are dealt with, the others see the reality of the situation and comply. Interestingly enough, I have seen some of the toughest students realize, after a discipline incident involving someone else early in the semester, that I had control of the class, and never cause any problems at all. It is as if they had lots of experience with using and receiving force and they understood where it was better than the others.

3.) In dealing with individual students I usually give someone three direct warnings regarding unacceptable behavior during a single class before I send them to the office. If the behavior stops, I still note the occurrences in the grade book [See: Keeping a Grade Book Record ] for future use. Now I don’t allow each student three warnings and I don’t allow an individual student three warnings each day. If the behavior stops within three warnings, then I usually choose some other way to deal with the behavior than send the student to the office.

Again, if the student will not stop the behavior after three instructions, send him to the office. Teachers cause themselves a great deal of problems by not sending such a student to the office and instead deciding to talk to them after class. The effect of non-action is that the student has decided the level of behavior in the classroom.

4.) For students who are not immediately removed, a conversation after class about the behavior and possible consequences is effective. Do not tell the student specifically what the consequences may be. Some may simply decide that they don’t mind those consequences. Let some questions or doubt remain in their minds. Also a phone call to a parent helps. If you tell the student that you are going to call, they may go home and tell their version of the story first and then it takes 15-20 minutes longer in conversation for the parent to realize that you are not the type of teacher that their child has reported you to be.

Howard Miller, Associate Professor of Education at Lincoln University (Jefferson City, Missouri) suggests 12 steps teachers can take at the beginning of the year to promote effective classroom management.

1. Develop a set of written expectations you can live with and enforce.
2. Be consistent. Be consistent. Be consistent.
3. Be patient with yourself and with your students.
4. Make parents your allies. Call early and often. Use the word "concerned." When communicating a concern, be specific and descriptive.
5. Don’t talk too much. Use the first 15 minutes of class for lectures or presentations, then get the kids working.
6. Break the class period into two or three different activities. Be sure each activity segues smoothly into the next.
7. Begin at the very beginning of each class period and end at the very end.
8. Don’t roll call. Take the roll with your seating chart while students are working.
9. Keep all students actively involved. For example, while a student does a presentation, involve the other students in evaluating it.
10. Discipline individual students quietly and privately. Never engage in a disciplinary conversation across the room.
11. Keep your sense of perspective and your sense of humor.
12. Know when to ask for help.

Teacher-recommended techniques for maintaining control:

• Establish eye contact.
• Move around the room and increase proximity to restless students.
• Send a silent signal.
• Give a quiet reminder.
• Re-direct a student’s attention.
• Begin a new activity.
• Offer a choice.
• Use humor.
• Provide positive reinforcement.
• Wait quietly until everyone is on task.
• Ask a directed question.
• And, when all else fails, try something else!

Creating a climate for learning is probably the most important — and most difficult — task a teacher faces, but it can be even more difficult for beginning teachers. As former U.S. Department of Education teacher-in-residence Mary Beth Blegan says, "Setting the classroom environment is key. For a new teacher that means pretending that you know what you’re doing."

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