11 Techniques for Better Classroom Discipline

Here are eleven techniques that you can use in your classroom that will help you achieve
effective group management and control. They have been adapted from an article
called: "A Primer on Classroom Discipline: Principles Old and New" by Thomas R.
McDaniel, Phi Delta Kappan, September 1986.

1. Focusing
Be sure you have the attention of everyone in your classroom before you start your
lesson. Don’t attempt to teach over the chatter of students who are not paying
attention. Inexperienced teachers sometimes think that by beginning their lesson,
the class will settle down. The children will see that things are underway
now and it is time to go to work. Sometimes this works, but the children
are also going to think that you are willing to compete with them, that you
don’t mind talking while they talk, or that you are willing to speak louder so
that they can finish their conversation even after you have started the
lesson. They get the idea that you accept their inattention and that it is
permissible to talk while you are presenting a lesson.
The focusing technique means that you will demand their attention before
you begin. It means that you will wait and not start until everyone has
settled down. Experienced teachers know that silence on their part is very
effective. They will punctuate their waiting by extending it 3 to 5 seconds
after the classroom is completely quiet. Then they begin their lesson using
a quieter voice than normal. A soft spoken teacher often has a calmer, quieter
classroom than one with a stronger voice. Her students sit still in order to hear
what she says.
2. Direct Instruction
Uncertainty increases the level of excitement in the classroom. The
technique of direct instruction is to begin each class by telling the students
exactly what will be happening. The teacher outlines what he and the
students will be doing this period. He may set time limits for some tasks.
An effective way to marry this technique with the first one is to include time
at the end of the period for students to do activities of their choosing. The
teacher may finish the description of the hour’s activities with: “And I think
we will have some time at the end of the period for you to chat with your
friends, go to the library, or catch up on work for other classes.”
The teacher is more willing to wait for class attention when he knows there
is extra time to meet his goals and objectives. The students soon realize
that the more time the teacher waits for their attention, the less free time
they have at the end of the hour.
3. Monitoring

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The key to this principle is to circulate. Get up and get around the room.
While your students are working, make the rounds. Check on their
progress.
An effective teacher will make a pass through the whole room about two
minutes after the students have started a written assignment. She checks
that each student has started, that the children are on the correct page,
and that everyone has put their names on their papers. The delay is
important. She wants her students to have a problem or two finished so
she can check that answers are correctly labeled or in complete
sentences. She provides individualized instruction as needed.
Students who are not yet quite on task will be quick to get going as they
see her approach. Those that were distracted or slow to get started can be
nudged along.
The teacher does not interrupt the class or try to make general
announcements unless she notices that several students have difficulty
with the same thing. The teacher uses a quiet voice and her students
appreciate her personal and positive attention.
4. Modeling
McDaniel tells us of a saying that goes “Values are caught, not taught.”
Teachers who are courteous, prompt, enthusiastic, in control, patient and
organized provide examples for their students through their own behavior.
The “do as I say, not as I do” teachers send mixed messages that confuse
students and invite misbehavior.
If you want students to use quiet voices in your classroom while they work,
you too will use a quiet voice as you move through the room helping
youngsters.
5. Non-Verbal Cuing
A standard item in the classroom of the 1950’s was the clerk’s bell. A
shiny nickelbell sat on the teacher’s desk. With one tap of the button on
top he had everyone’s attention. Teachers have shown a lot of ingenuity
over the years in making use of non-verbal cues in the classroom. Some
flip light switches. Others keep clickers in their pockets.
Non-verbal cues can also be facial expressions, body posture and hand
signals. Care should be given in choosing the types of cues you use in
your classroom. Take time to explain what you want the students to do
when you use your cues.
6. Environmental Control
A classroom can be a warm cheery place. Students enjoy an environment
that changes periodically. Study centers with pictures and color invite
enthusiasm for your subject.
Young people like to know about you and your interests. Include personal
items in your classroom. A family picture or a few items from a hobby or
collection on your desk will trigger personal conversations with your
students. As they get to know you better, you will see fewer problems with
discipline.
Just as you may want to enrich your classroom, there are times when you
may want to impoverish it as well. You may need a quiet corner with few
distractions. Some students will get caught up in visual exploration. For
them, the splash and the color is a siren that pulls them off task. They may
need more “vanilla” and less “rocky-road.” Have a quiet place where you

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can steer these youngsters. Let them get their work done first and then
come back to explore and enjoy the rest of the room.
7. Low-Profile Intervention
Most students are sent to the principal’s office as a result of
confrontational escalation. The teacher has called them on a lesser
offense, but in the moments that follow, the student and the teacher are
swept up in a verbal maelstrom. Much of this can be avoided when the
teacher’s intervention is quiet and calm.
An effective teacher will take care that the student is not rewarded for
misbehavior by becoming the focus of attention. She monitors the activity
in her classroom, moving around the room. She anticipates problems
before they occur. Her approach to a misbehaving student is
inconspicuous. Others in the class are not distracted.
While lecturing to her class this teacher makes effective use of namedropping.
If she sees a student talking or off task, she simply drops the
youngster’s name into her dialogue in a natural way. “And you see, David,
we carry the one to the tens column.” David hears his name and is drawn
back on task. The rest of the class doesn’t seem to notice.
8. Assertive Discipline
This is traditional limit setting authoritarianism. When executed as
presented by Lee Canter (who has made this form a discipline one of the
most widely known and practiced) it will include a good mix of praise. This
is high profile discipline. The teacher is the boss and no child has the right
to interfere with the learning of any student. Clear rules are laid out and
consistently enforced.
9. Assertive I-Messages
A component of Assertive Discipline, these I-Messages are statements
that the teacher uses when confronting a student who is misbehaving.
They are intended to be clear descriptions of what the student is suppose
to do. The teacher who makes good use of this technique will focus the
child’s attention first and foremost on the behavior he wants, not on the
misbehavior. “I want you to...” or “I need you to...” or “I expect you to...”
The inexperienced teacher may incorrectly try “I want you to stop...” only
to discover that this usually triggers confrontation and denial. The focus is
on the misbehavior and the student is quick to retort: “I wasn’t doing
anything!” or “It wasn’t my fault...” or “Since when is there a rule against...”
and escalation has begun.
10. Humanistic I-Messages
These I-messages are expressions of our feelings. Thomas Gordon,
creator of Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET), tells us to structure these
messages in three parts. First, include a description of the child’s
behavior. “When you talk while I talk...” Second, relate the effect this
behavior has on the teacher. “...I have to stop my teaching...” And third, let
the student know the feeling that it generates in the teacher. “...which
frustrates me.”
A teacher, distracted by a student who was constantly talking while he
tried to teach, once made this powerful expression of feelings: “I cannot
imagine what I have done to you that I do not deserve the respectfrom you
that I get from the others in this class. If I have been rude to you or
inconsiderate in any way, please let me know. I feel as though I have

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somehow offended you and now you are unwilling to show me respect.”
The student did not talk during his lectures again for many weeks.
11. Positive Discipline
Use classroom rules that describe the behaviors you want instead of
listing things the students cannot do. Instead of “no-running in the room,”
use “move through the building in an orderly manner.” Instead of “no
fighting,“ use “settle conflicts appropriately.” Instead of “no gum chewing,”
use “leave gum at home.” Refer to your rules as expectations. Let your
students know this is how you expect them to behave in your classroom.
Make ample use of praise. When you see good
behavior, acknowledge it. This can be done
verbally, of course, but it doesn’t have to be. A
nod, a smile or a “thumbs up” will reinforce the
behavior.

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Discipline by Design Page 1 of 2

Introduction Techniques that Backfire

Overview

Teacher Resources
11 Discipline Techniques
Techniques that Backfire
Stages of Discipline If you haven’t already been
Better Discipline there, check out Discipline
Proactive Discipline Techniques on this website.
HLS Schools These 11 techniques for better
discipline can be useful in
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managing a positive and
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There are some techniques,
Frequently Asked however, that should be
Questions avoided. Linda Albert surveyed
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dozens of teachers, asking
Shared Documents them what methods have backfired for them. Here they are as she
How to Send Us Data has presented them in her book A Teacher’s Guide to Cooperative
Contact Us Discipline, (American Guidance Service, 1989).

After 27 years in elementary and middle school classrooms, I can

honestly say I have tried most of these techniques. Linda is right.
They may work a few times, but not over the long haul. Techniques
that backfire include:

 raising my voice
 yelling
 saying “I’m the boss here”
 insisting on having the last word
 using tense body language, such as rigid posture or clenched
hands
 using degrading, insulting, humiliating, or embarrassing put-
downs
 using sarcasm
 attacking the student’s character
 acting superior
 using physical force
 drawing unrelated persons into the conflict
 having a double standard — making students do what I say, not
what I do
 insisting that I am right
 preaching
 making assumptions
 backing the student into a corner

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 pleading or bribing
 bringing up unrelated events
 generalizing about students by making remarks such as “All you
kids are the same”
 making unsubstantiated accusations
 holding a grudge
 nagging
 throwing a temper tantrum
 mimicking the student
 making comparisons with siblings or other students
 commanding, demanding, dominatin
 rewarding the student

©Copyright 2009, Budd Churchward

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Discipline by Design Page 1 of 5

Introduction Stages of Discipline

Overview

Teacher Resources
11 Discipline Techniques
Techniques that Backfire
Stages of Discipline You would never think of
Better Discipline setting up a math or reading
Proactive Discipline program in your building that
HLS Schools treated every student exactly
the same. You would not
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expect all students to use the
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same math book. If you did
Frequently Asked any of these things, your
Questions school board and your
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community would demand an
Shared Documents immediate explanation. Yet,
How to Send Us Data we set up discipline systems
Contact Us in our schools that treat all
students exactly the same. In
fact, everyone expects us to
do just that!

Just as students function at different

levels in reading and math, they also
function at different levels, or stages, of
discipline. It is possible to set up a
consistent system for classroom
discipline that will be appropriate for
students functioning a t all stages and at the same time encourage
them to work their way up to higher stages.

There are many experts telling us how to handle discipline

problems in our classrooms. Yet these experts do not always
agree. Thomas Gordon, creator of Teacher Effectiveness Training
staunchly opposes Lee Canter’s Assertive Discipline concept. Yet,
both have enjoyed a great deal of success all across America.
Trying to decide who is right and who is wrong seems quite difficult.
Instead, let us assume that both of them are right, that they just are
not talking about the same students!

If we look at the work of Lawrence Kohlberg, we find the piece that

will put this puzzle together. For many years Kohlberg studied
stages of moral and ethical reasoning in youngsters from the United
States, Taiwan, Mexico, Turkey, and Yucatan. One important fact
that surfaced in his research is that everyone, regardless of culture,

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race, or sex, goes through these stages. Although the progression

from stage to stage is the same, the rate varies from person to
person. It is for this reason that we need to be prepared to address
discipline in our classrooms at different levels. Our students are
functioning at different stages on the road to self-discipline. Let us
look at these stages and see how youngsters behave.

Stage 1: Recalcitrant Behavior

The Power Stage: Might Makes Right!

Students functioning at Stage 1, the lowest stage, are typically

recalcitrant in their behavior. That is, they often refuse to follow
directions. They are defiant and require a tremendous amount of
our attention. Theirs is a heteronomous morality: they have few
rules of their own, but out of fear of reprisal, may follow the rules of
others. Most youngsters have progressed beyond this stage by age
four or five, but a few older students still function at this level.

This is the power stage. What makes it work is the imbalance of

power between the child and the person in authority. When the
child is young, the imbalance of power between him and his parent
is significant. If the child is never taught a higher stage, the
imbalance of power diminishes as he grows up . The parent then
tells us that she can no longer control her child. He will not mind.
He challenges authority constantly.

Fortunately, very few of the students we see in our classrooms

function at this stage. Those who do, follow rules as long as the
imbalance of power tilts against them. Assertive teachers with a
constant eye on these students can keep them in line. Turn your
back on them, and they are out of control.

If these students want something, they usually just take it. They
show very little concern for the feelings of others. They seek out
extensions of power. Pencils, scissors, and rulers become weapons
in their hands.

Schools that use The Honor Level System find that the students
who function mainly at this level are chronically on Honor Level
Four.

Stage 2: Self-Serving Behavior

The Reward/Punishment Stage: "What's in It for Me?"

Students functioning at Stage 2 are a little easier to handle in the

classroom. They also represent only a small percent of the
youngsters we teach. Kohlberg would classify them as having an
individualistic morality. They can be very self-centered.

This is the reward and punishment stage. These students behave

either because they will receive some sort of reward such as candy,
free time, etc., or because they do not like what happens to them
when they do not behave. Most children are moving beyond this

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stage by the time they are eight or nine years old. Older students
who still function at this stage do best in classrooms with assertive
teachers.

There is very little sense of self-discipline at this stage. Like the

power stage children, these youngsters need constant supervision.
They may behave quite well in your classroom and then be out of
control in the halls on the way to their next class.

Because we expect so much more of our students, these children

are often on Honor Level Three and Honor Level Four.

Stage 3: Interpersonal Discipline

The Mutual Interpersonal Stage: "How Can I Please
You?"

Students functioning at Stage 3 make up most of the youngsters in

our middle and junior high schools. These kids have started to
develop a sense of discipline. They behave because you ask them.
This is the mutual interpersonal stage. They care what others
think about them, and they want you to like them.

These children need gentle reminders. You ask them to settle down
and they do. Assertive discipline works with these students
because they understand it, but they rarely need such a heavy
handed approach to classroom discipline.

Quite often you find students in your classroom that are in transition
from Stage 2 to Stage 3. Perhaps you will know of a student that
gets into lots of trouble in other classrooms but not in yours. This
child is just learning to trust others and build the interpersonal
relationships that are more common with his classmates. You need
to let him know that his good behavior is important to you not only
in your classroom, but in others as well. Nurture this youngster and
you will see quick progress. Be unnecessarily assertive and he will
slip back to Stage 2.

These students are almost always on Honor Level One and Honor
Level Two.

Stage 4: Self-Discipline
The Social Order Stage: "I Behave Because it is the
Right Thing to Do."

Students functioning at Stage 4 rarely get into any trouble at all.

They have a sense of right and wrong. Although many middle
school and junior high school students will occasionally function at
this level, only a few consistently do. These are the youngsters we
enjoy working with so much. You can leave these kids alone with a
project and come back 20 or 30 minutes later and find them still on
task. They behave because, in their minds, it is the right thing to do.

This is the social order stage. These students are almost always

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on Honor Level One.

Even though they may never tell you, students who function at this
level do not appreciate assertive discipline. They are bothered by
the fact that other students force teachers to use so much class
time dealing with discipline problems.

Although most of our students do not usually operate at this stage,

they are near enough to it that they understand it. Cooperative
Learning activities encourage students to function at this level. The
teacher who sets up several groups within the classroom gives
students a chance to practice working at this level while he waits
close by, ready to step in when needed.

Working Through the Stages

Kohlberg describes additional stages of morality and ethical
reasoning that go beyond what we discuss here, but they are not
usually seen in school age children. In fact, many adults do not
progress much further than these.

Keep in mind that all of us work our way through these stages in
this order as we grow up. When you identify the stage at which a
student is functioning, you can then help that youngster work to the
next stage. It is a mistake to try and skip stages. Insisting that a
Stage 1 student “straighten up and start acting right” (like a Stage 4
student) is not a reasonable expectation. It simply isn’t going to
happen! Instead, set your goal on Stage 2 and you will be less
frustrated. You may be pleasantly surprised when you start to
notice improvement.

It is important to remember that for many reasons, any child is fully

capable of regressing every now and then. When you really get to
know your students and are used to them functioning at a stage, it
is important to look for a reason when one of your students
regresses. Problems with family members, friends, alcohol, or
drugs may be behind a shift in behavior. It simply might be
tiredness or the onset of illness. Whatever the cause, it is worth
taking the time to talk with the student and see what’s going on.

Picking Up the Pieces

You may feel that you do not have the time to walk these kids from
stage to stage. You may be concerned about covering the material
in the book or getting to all the objectives, but what do you teach?
Is it English? Math? Science? Such a response is the one others
expect of us, but the real answer is: “I teach children.” When you
get used to thinking of your job in that way, it is easier to find the
time needed to help a youngster with behavior problems.

Learning self-discipline is just like learning anything else. Your

students aren’t always going to get it right the first time. So, you find
yourself “picking up the pieces.” You help them some more, and
when you think they are ready you give it another try.

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If you have a math student who is not quite ready to handle long
division, you spend more time on subtraction and multiplication. If
you have a student that isn’t ready for Stage 3 or Stage 4, you
spend more time working on Stage 2. Where other teachers may
see a kid who is still a discipline problem, you may be able to see
one who is making progress. Seeing that progress, as slow as it
might be, makes greeting that youngster each day a pleasure that
his other teachers may never enjoy.
Soon you will be opening the doors to the
mutual inter-personal stage and really
make a difference in his life.

©Copyright 2009, Budd Churchward

HLS Schools Introduction Download Software Teacher Resources Support
Overview Latest Update 11 Discipline Techniques Frequently Asked Questions
FREE Trial Software Techniques that Backfire Setup Tutorial
Extend Trial Period Stages of Discipline User's Guide
Better Discipline Shared Documents
Proactive Discipline How to Send Us Data
Contact Us

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Routines and Procedures for Managing Your Classroom Page 1 of 4

Routines and Procedures

for Managaing Your Classroom

by K.J. Wagner, M.A.

Effective classroom teachers spend more of their time in the first few weeks of the year teachin
classroom routines and procedures as opposed to academic content. Why? Because routines an
procedures are the key to a well-managed, organized classroom.

Research shows that most behavior problems result from lack of classroom routines and
procedures. Moreover, the number of interruptions to academic instruction are reduced and the
class flows more smoothly.

Points to remember:

• Have a copy of your routines and procedures to hand to each of your students on the first
of school. (Keep extra copies on hand for new students who arrive later in the year.)
• Do not simply hand out the list, go over it once, and expect the students to comply.
• Teach the most important, key procedures over a period of days, one or two at a time.

• Explain the rationale behind the routine or procedure.

• Model the routine or procedure for the students.
• Give the students non-examples of compliance.
• Have the students (or one student) model the procedure.

• Teach the less important routines and procedure by simply stating the routine or procedu
monitoring it, and reinforcing it when necessary.
• Be consistent . Don't give up after a few days. The time spent teaching, monitoring and
reinforcing routines and procedures during the first three weeks of school will pay
tremendous dividends. If the routines and procedures are established at the beginning of
year, the entire rest of the year will be more enjoyable and productive for both you and y
students.

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