Building classroom discipline

281 Pages·2013·9.848 MB·English

by  C. M. CHARLES

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Building Classroom Discipline
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C. M. Charles

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Eleventh Edition
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ISBN 978-1-29204-192-6
9 781292 041926
Pearson New International Edition

Building Classroom Discipline

C. M. Charles
Eleventh Edition
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ISBN 13: 978-1-292-04192-6
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ISBN 10: 1-292-04192-7
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P E A R S O N C U S T O M L I B R AR Y
Table of Contents
1. Classroom Discipline: The Problems and the Promise
C. M. Charles 1
2. Recognizing Your Obligations and Charting the Course Ahead
C. M. Charles 25
3. The Development of Modern Discipline
C. M. Charles 51
4. Ron Morrish on Organizing and Presenting a Basic Discipline Plan
C. M. Charles 77
5. Craig Seganti on Taking Charge in the Classroom
C. M. Charles 101
6. Harry and Rosemary Wong on the First Things You Should Teach
C. M. Charles 125
7. Fred Jones on Keeping Students Willingly Engaged in Learning
C. M. Charles 149
8. Marvin Marshall on Fostering Responsible Behavior
C. M. Charles 173
9. William Glasser on Releasing the Power of Positive Choice
C. M. Charles 199
10. Spencer Kagan on Working on the Same Side with Students
C. M. Charles 223
11. Paula Cook on Helping Students Who Exhibit Neurological-Based Behavior
C. M. Charles 245
Index 269
I
II
Classroom Discipline:
The Problems and the Promise
From Chapter 1 of Building Classroom Discipline, Eleventh Edition. C. M. Charles. Copyright © 2014 by Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
1
CCllaassssrroooomm DDiisscciipplliinnee::
TThhee PPrroobblleemmss aanndd tthhee PPrroommiissee
Would You Like to Understand Discipline,
Wrinkles and All, and Become Really Good at It?
What, You ask, Is thIs text GettInG Me Into?
The answer is, this text is getting you into the most important thing you can learn
about teaching, which is how to establish and maintain a pleasant learning envi-
ronment in which students behave civilly and responsibly and you are able to teach
without disruption. Such environments are essential to high-quality teaching and
learning. Unfortunately, in many of today’s classrooms, civil and responsible be-
havior is not much in evidence. Numbers of students show little respect for teach-
ers. Some make almost no effort to learn, and a few wantonly disrupt learning for
everyone in the class. Such behavior harms both teaching and learning. Teachers
in disruptive classrooms find little pleasure in their chosen profession, and often
burn out early and either leave teaching or struggle on miserably. As for students,
persistent misbehavior keeps them distracted and sometimes fearful, both of which
are destructive to learning.
But there’s bright promise of better things to come. In these pages, you will
learn how to minimize misbehavior so you can work enjoyably with well-behaved
students. Many students behave civilly most of the time, but altogether too many
do not. Given that fact, your first step is to acknowledge five realities of misbehavior
and discipline and learn to address all of them. Here are the five realities:
1. Students are inclined to misbehave. Many are going to behave nicely most of the
time, but a few are going to misbehave so severely that they cheat and damage
themselves, their classmates, their teachers, their parents, and the society that
depends on (and pays for) their education as citizens.
2. To be successful in teaching, you must learn how to promote responsible behavior in
the classroom. You must learn how to influence students in a positive manner
to behave civilly and considerately even when they don’t want to. Unless you
learn to do that, you will never be able to teach well, and even students who
want to learn in your classes will have difficulty doing so.
3. Fostering responsible behavior is the greatest challenge you will face in teach-
ing. Bluntly speaking, your success and the well-being of your students de-
pend on it. Unless you have exceptional natural talents, you must work to
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develop the skills that promote good classroom behavior.
4. Students who develop responsible behavior have a great advantage in life. Most peo-
ple cannot come close to realizing their potential unless they conduct them-
selves responsibly. Many students receive the help they need only in school,
with little support from home or community.
5. You have to teach many students how to behave responsibly. You actually have to
teach your students how to behave, how to be successful, and even how to be
likeable, all of which are very important if they are to enjoy quality lives. This
is one of your great challenges. It is of paramount importance.
Can I antICIpate hoW MY students WIll Behave?
Yes. With effort, you can gain quite a good understanding of how students at vari-
ous age levels in various segments of society tend to behave individually and in
groups. Virtually all conscious behavior, proper or improper, has a motive behind
it. Some of those motives are genetically determined and reside within us, some
occur and change as part of the maturation process, some are learned, some are
triggered by environmental and social situations, some are set off by emotion, and
many occur because we become able to make better choices as we develop intellec-
tually. A bit later, we will examine 26 conditions that underlie student misbehavior,
but first let’s review what is considered typical or “natural” behavior at different
levels of development. Keep in mind that these depictions are general and do not
always apply.
Behavior in the primary Grades (ages 5 to 8)
Have a look at primary-grade children on the playground. They are full of life
and very eager to learn. Most of them have loving dispositions. They particularly
enjoy stories, music, and rhythmic activities. They have an enormous facility in
learning language, which often makes them appear intelligent beyond their years.
Children at this age don’t like to sit still for long—in fact you can hardly make
them do so.
And yet these students, precocious though they seem, have limited capabili-
ties in some regards, which has important implications for teachers. Before the
approximate age of 7, most function intellectually at what Swiss psychologist
Jean Piaget (shown here) called the preoperational stage, where they reason not
on the basis of logic but rather on impressions obtained from their surroundings
(see Charles, 1974; Piaget, 1951). Piaget found that during the preoperational
phase, students are poor at remembering the order of events, understanding
rules, explaining cause–effect relationships, comprehending number relation-
ships, and understanding other speakers accurately, including the teacher.
Socially, they get along reasonably well with each other, although they often
squabble. They tire easily, get fussy, and require frequent rest. They make little
distinction between work and play.
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An important change occurs in children at around age 7, give or take a year
or so. They move into an intellectual stage Piaget called concrete operations, where
brain development enables them to begin understanding concepts that they inter-
preted differently only weeks earlier. Importantly, they become able to consider the
relationship of parts to whole and to reason in terms of cause and effect. Where
previously they reasoned and explained on the basis of appearances or intuition
(e.g., “The sun moves because the wind blows it along”), they can now understand
number relationships and many concepts in science, such as the cause of day and
night.
Socially, they are learning to play well together. By second grade, they are en-
joying games such as tag and hide and seek. They like puzzles, riddles, and guessing
games. Although able to learn rules for games, they are not so good at following
them. They accept adult authority with little question. They tell fabrications rou-
tinely but seldom in a malicious way. They are highly imitative of each other. For
them, misbehavior is whatever adults don’t like, and guilt is understood in terms
of getting caught.
By the time they complete the primary grades, students are usually well social-
ized to understand that raising hands, standing in lines, taking turns, and waiting
patiently are expected behaviors. They continue to respond well to affection and
personal attention. All through this stage, students enjoy music, art, rhythms, stories,
and activities that have to do with plants and animals.
Behavior in the Intermediate Grades (ages 9 to 11)
As students move into grade 4, they become increasingly able to function inde-
pendently, although they still want attention and affection from teachers. Holding
hands with the teacher replaces hugging. Their interest in animals and the natural
world continues strongly.
Intellectually, they continue to use concrete language and images for thinking
(as indeed do most of us adults). Teachers need to realize that students cannot yet
think by using pure abstractions. For example, they do not conceptualize “minus”
numbers per se, such as –4, but can think of four real items being removed from
a group.
Socially, these students increasingly want to share each others’ company.
They like group names and begin to form cliques and clubs. Their individual
behavior begins to reflect peer norms. They recognize the need for rules and rule
enforcement, both in games and class behavior. They like to play group games.
And they are beginning to enjoy competition, provided they win. Losing is a dif-
ferent matter, which they find difficult to accept; it causes many to cry and lose
their tempers.
Verbally, these students tend to be highly argumentative. Many are loud and
vocally aggressive, yet increasingly they rely on reason and efforts to persuade oth-
ers. No longer is teacher authority blindly accepted. Students may argue with the
teacher, talk back, and be uncooperative.
Ethically, they show a growing awareness of honesty and its importance in
relationships. Although most stretch the truth frequently, they see that the more a
lie intends to deceive, the worse it is. Conscience is developing along with respect
for others. A growing sense of right and wrong is evident.
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Behavior in the Middle school Grades (ages 12 to 14)
At this level, student behavior becomes somewhat more erratic, and teachers require
great skill in order to teach well and build supportive relationships. Bodily changes
worry, perplex, excite, and dismay these students. New realities associated with sex stir
and baffle. Psychological weaning from parents leaves them feeling lost and cut off.
They crave adult support, yet the emerging need for independence leads to conflict
with adults. These realities often act as serious distractions to school learning.
At the same time, students are becoming increasingly rebellious and disposed
to probing the boundaries of rules and customs. Their awe of the teacher has
waned, but has been replaced with respect and affection for teachers who show
understanding and helpfulness. Intellectually, most of these students have acquired
a great new power—the ability to think abstractly. Their minds work as quickly as
do those of adults, although they lack adult perspective and wisdom. Students can
make use of concepts such as love, hate, honesty, loyalty, negative numbers, force,
speed, time, and atomic particles. They have become able to think about thought.
Behavior in the high school Grades (ages 15 to 18)
Before entering high school, students have developed the capacity for deeper thinking.
They now show a proclivity for theorizing. They try to find a cause, a purpose, and a
place for everything. They think about the possible as much as the actual and have ac-
quired a strong concern for right and wrong. Their rational power produces the ideal-
ism characteristic of adolescence. Propositional thinking emerges: “If I do so and so,
then so and so will result.” Interest in people and society in general is growing rapidly.
Lies are now seen as anything intentionally false. Punishment must take into ac-
count factors such as intent to break a rule, age of the violator, and previous record of
behavior. Many rules and laws are seen as unfair or irrelevant, so breaking them is no
longer considered absolutely wrong. Socially, these students can see various groups’
points of view, which they like to weigh, clarify, and evaluate against each other. They
can’t see why everything is not ideal—politics, institutions, human relations, and so
forth—which makes them overly critical of the way institutions and people actually
function. Students may scathingly reject existing social arrangements and values, but
for the most part their personal behavior complies reasonably well with social norms.
As they near the end of high school, students begin to settle down emotion-
ally. They understand themselves better and have reached a truce with their bodies
and feelings. They have begun to think about what they hope to do in the future.
Some, lamentably, become further alienated from the educational mainstream.
A new relationship with adults also emerges. The love–hate attitude of earlier
years fades, while respect for adults grows as students recognize their own interde-
pendence with the community. Teachers can interact with these students as fellow
adults, and students see teachers as mentors and role models.
hoW do students’ needs and haBIts affeCt theIr BehavIor?
All students have needs that prompt them to behave in certain ways. A need is a
vague condition within us that strongly and persistently urges us to seek out certain
satisfactions. We cannot directly observe a need—that is why psychologists refer to
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