Tina Ayers
511
Management
Approach
Discipline, as
hard as it may seem, is a necessary tool in every teacher’s toolkit. If the
discipline is too light, chaos may ensue. If the discipline is too harsh,
anarchy may follow. There has to be as balance between the two. And, as we’ve
come to find out, there are many approaches and philosophies in between. The main
approaches I will use in a classroom management approach are: discipline with
dignity, assertive discipline, noncoersive, and inner discipline. These
approaches are grounded in an educational philosophy of the Reconstructionist
because with the discipline with dignity it gives the students a sense of
community. As with the assertive discipline it allows the students to realize that
their actions affect other members of the classroom/society. As for the inner discipline
it allows students to work jointly with their teacher to create a positive
learning environment. I believe the nature of the learner is genuinely
interested and willing to learn and make changes in themselves which will inevitably
change our society. The subject matter being mathematics can affect society by
teaching students the benefits of rigorous studying and gaining an in-depth
understanding of material. The process by which the students can learn is
broad. If the structure of discipline is intact, enforced, and internalized,
then I feel that the learner will succeed through the support and guidance that
the rules and regulations provide.
In order to
limit the amount of discipline that a teacher must use, it would be a good idea
to put in some preventative measures, in hopes that this will prevent
misbehavior in the first place. A preventative approach that I will use in the
classroom will come from the inner discipline, dignity, and assertive
discipline approaches. From the inner discipline standpoint, the students and I
will come up with the class rules, and agree on the consequences. “Reasonable
consequences are when teacher and student jointly agree on a set of reasonable
logical consequences.”(Coloroso,1994). This is incorporates the Reconstructionist
philosophy because it connects the students to society by group collaborating
to come up with the rules. The assertive discipline approach suggests “There is
a clear structure on how to respond to student disruptions through invoking consequences.”(Canter,1976).
This has its place once the student-teacher created rules have been
established. The teacher must show authority in some degree, or else the set
rules won’t be effective at preventing any misbehavior. Looking at the dignity
approach, we can “Establish classroom discipline upon a basis of dignity and
hope” (Curwin and Mendler, 1983). The discipline that we do create must be fair
and constructive. Once these rules have been established and the consequences understood,
I feel that they will be a good measure at preventing misbehavior.
Promoting responsible behavior is the
main approach in the supportive approach. “Helping students to learn RESPECT for themselves, for other
people in their communities, and for property becomes a pivotal feature of this
comprehensive management approach.” (Kyle,
1999). In order to support positive student behavior I can implement a
noncoersive method by developing appropriate curriculum. “Curriculum must be organized to meet
students’ needs for survival, belonging, power, fun, and freedom. Provide a
warm supportive classroom climate.”(Glasser, 1985). Sometimes students may have
ideas misconstrued and need some guidance on what really is right or wrong. In
order to compensate for that we can incorporate inner discipline by making
“sure students differentiate between the reality and the problem.”(Coloroso,
1994).If the situation has been blown out of proportion, we should aim to take
a step back and reevaluate and adjust our outlook. Being supportive in that I “Help students see that quality work
is never destructive to oneself, other or the environment” (Glasser, 1985), I
feel that students will make positive choices based on their internal moral
compass. Helping students develop a sense of self will benefit them in their
entire lives by helping them realize that their behavior, positive or negative,
impacts the entire community.
If the above
techniques don’t work as intended, which I realize that they always won’t or
else we wouldn’t be discussing the topic of discipline, then we will resort to
the corrective approach. The damage has been done, now what can we do to fix
it? It is okay to make mistakes, we all do it, and as Coloroso puts it we must
“Get across to students that it’s OK, even beneficial, to make mistakes, and
that no problem is so great that it can’t be solved.” After a mistake has been
made the inner discipline approach also suggests that we look at the three R’s:
restitution, resolution and reconciliation. Restitution means “giving back: the return of something to its rightful
owner paying back: compensation for a loss, damage, or injury restoration: the
return of something to the condition it was in before it was changed.”(Bing.com).
Resolution as defined at Bing.com is “solution: an answer to a
problem”. Lastly, Reconciliation is defined as “reconciling
of people: the ending of conflict or renewing of a friendly
relationship between disputing people or groups”. As Coloroso puts it “That means they need to fix what was done wrong,
figure out how to keep it from happening again, and heal with the people they
have harmed.” This emphasizes the Reconstructionist view by being conscious of
others and being considerate of their emotions as that will affect society
either positively or negatively. As we have recently seen regarding the anti-Muslim
YouTube video how destructive being inconsiderate of others can be. This
approach to corrective discipline makes sense, and mimics what happens in the
real world when laws are broken.
Discipline may have a bad rap, but I defiantly know the
benefits that it entails. The preventative, supportive, and correction approach
all must be combine to create one harmonious coherent plan to create a well-established
conducive learning atmosphere. To prevent misbehavior we must develop rules and
consequences. To support positive behavior we must entrust students with the
principles to be their own moral guides. To correct, we must do so with dignity
and resolution. The Reconstructionist view upholds dignity and respect for all
through education. Without properly implemented disciple strategies, no student
or teacher would be giving or providing justice.
References
Bing.com: Online dictionary http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+restitution&qpvt=restitution+definition&FORM=DTPDIA accessed September 23, 2012
Canter: Canter's Assertive Discipline Assertive Discipline Handout http://cc2010.csusm.edu/course/view.php?id=8866 accessed September 23, 2012
Coloroso: Coloroso's Inner Discipline Inner
Discipline Handout http://cc2010.csusm.edu/course/view.php?id=8866 accessed September 23, 2012
Curwin and Mendler: Curwin & Mendler's Discipline Through
Dignity Discipline Through/With Dignity Handout http://cc2010.csusm.edu/course/view.php?id=8866 accessed September 23, 2012
Glasser: Other Discipline Approaches Glasser's Noncoercive Discipline http://cc2010.csusm.edu/course/view.php?id=8866 accessed September 23, 2012
Kern, Patricia: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: SUPPORTIVE STRATEGIES http://www.nasponline.org/educators/HCHSII_SupportiveStrategies.pdf accessed September 23, 2012
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