Behavior Management and Discipline of the Classroom

I believe discipline in the classroom has a time and place. Depending on the age group or behavior of the classroom will define if discipline is needed. When discipline is simple, the teacher must ask themselves one question, is it disrupting the student's time to learn? If the answer to that question is a yes then action must be taken at that point. As a future teacher, I think the best way to make it clear to the student that bad behavior will not be tolerated is by implementing a three-strike system: the first strike is a warning, the second strike is detention and a paper assigned to the student asking them to write what mistake they made and how they will improve in the future, the third strike is being sent to the principal's office and a written letter from the teacher to the parents. I believe a three-strike system is fair because it gives the students chances to realize what they did wrong and do better. I don't think it's very fair for the teacher to just discipline their students outright for their first mistake or discipline them in front of their student peers. Discipline is sometimes necessary but needs to be fair.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Priscilla L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

Reasons for misbehavior

Young students who generally have disciplinary problems do it because of an internal need that hasn't been met. The most likely explanation would be issues at home or a feeling of not belonging or fitting in with their peers. I think one thing that will aid that issue is the teacher coming from a place of understanding. As a future teacher would sit down with the student and ask them what is going on because maybe it could be an issue I as a teacher would need to work on. Maybe this particular student is hyperactive or has a short attention span and would do better if he was assigned projects or the use of games as learning tools may help. I would want to make my classroom a safe space.

Also Read: 5 Reasons Why You Should Consider Russia for Teaching English Abroad

How to solve the problem?

As a future teacher, it is important to make the classroom a safe space so that students can have the freedom to learn without having to worry about anything. Thus, I would adopt a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to bullying. In my experience as a previous student, I would get bullied mercilessly by girls in my class. If I didn't have the wonderful teachers that I did who did not put up with that behavior in class I may not have done as well as I did in school because of it. When you are a student being bullied it is hard to focus on anything outside of the classroom, so when recess would end and I would go back to my class I thought of the classroom as a haven because no one could harass me there.

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Discipline is sometimes necessary but can be used to positively impact other students' lives or make them see the errors in their ways so they can become better people.

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