Comments on: Elementary school approaches

By: Kim

Kim — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:11:53 +0000

I have been told what to do with classroom discipline and have not support from administration. I’m not allowed to take recess away which always worked in the past.

By: glassfull

glassfull — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:05:15 +0000

Hi. In my humble opinion and experience in the UK, Craig’s classroom discipline definitely works in the Primary sector from Year 2 – Year 6. You have to give playtime detentions, rather than after school, and (especially with Year 6) you have to resist the temptation to allow the pupil to ‘earn back’ their playtime! We give our pupils so many rights in school, they seldom get real discipline – it reminds me of when I worked in a prison – the whole system there is about the inmates trying to get you to bend the rules, let them off, etc.. Most of the pupils in our schools don’t seem to accept ‘No!’ as ‘No!’. And its a huge shock to them when you mean ‘No!’. I am considering taking it one step further with Year 6, and getting them to sign the rules to show they have accepted them and the consequences of breaking them – so that when they have to miss their playtime, they can’t sit there and whine – ‘It’s not fair!’.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:37:40 +0000

Hi, Denise. Have you had any feedback regarding moderating the manual for primary school? I have moved back to SA after teaching in the UK for 5 years. I am teaching in a deprived area. Although the children I teach are very young, they come with many, many challenges.

By: pep

pep — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:24:34 +0000

I have just finished 4weeks in primary seven class(10-11year olds). Classroom Discipline 101 is a gift with 97% of the class. They follow the rules even when one of the three hardcores kick off. However, the system in my school is to inform the principal after a warning and breaktime detention don’t work. She has taken them to her office a few times and brought them back. I can’t insist on suspension as my job is temporary for this year with a chance of becoming permanent later. Any suggestions? Pep

By: Julia Foree

Julia Foree — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:49:38 +0000

I am not yet teaching, but have been reading frantically about discipline as I know without it all is lost….so my positive books also suggest something similar to detention, but it’s not just being there, it’s actually asking them to write a plan about what went wrong and what they will do to avoid it in the future…which they then discuss with the teacher. Seems that this bridges the gap between punitive and positive- no? For younger kids who can’t write yet obviously this would have to take the form of drawings and or discussions with teacher.

By: SMusic

SMusic — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:10:47 +0000

Hey, wildflower, I’m a music teacher also, with 7th and 8th graders. I’m just in a long term subbing gig at the moment, and have some other issues going on, but I think this program will work with a music class. It’s all about setting up procedures, and having things be as orderly as possible. Have procedures for EVERYthing. How they walk into class, how they get their things, which seat they go to, what’s the first thing they do when class starts, what formula do your lessons take, how do you end class, how do they clean up before they leave, etc.

Basically, figure out what rules (if followed) would create your perfect, most well behaved class, then make those your rules and enforce them CONSISTENTLY with a consequence that matters to the students. You don’t have to be mean or grumpy about it, just matter of fact. “This is what makes a good music classroom.” End of story.

Also, because music classes will be noisy, train them to recognize visual cues and respond immediately. Give them perhaps three seconds to go from a noisy activity back to being quiet, then hit them with your consequences. They will quickly train themselves to watch you at all times, even if it’s just peripherally, and to quiet down immediately when others start to quiet down.

I will say this, for me it’s HARD to enforce this stuff. Music has a natural energy that goes with it, and I’m having to resist the temptation to let things go or smile and shake my head. I just had to make myself realize that having a focused class where everyone is learning the music together is much more worthwhile than having the incorrigible kid smile and then make another joke for the class. As fun as we want the class to be, the fun has to come from succeeding together at the music, not from talking, messing around or being off topic, and this will only happen when they all decide to comply with your rules and procedures at all times.

By: wildflower

wildflower — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:39:32 +0000

I am very excited to try this with my fourth and fifth graders. However, I teach music and am trying to figure out a way to use it in this setting. It is extremely important that the students work together in my room because of the nature of my subject. Plus, the kids don’t have desks and often need to make noise in order to complete most tasks. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

By: CHRISSID

CHRISSID — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:39:15 +0000

I have just started the program with 5th grade and it has made a world of difference already. I also had to alter some things because of district regulations (some students are bussed and can’t stay after), but for the most part, I am following the program as is.
I have implemented the rule that if you get 5 15 minute after school or lunch detentions, a note goes home to parents for a meeting with the student,myself and the principal.
We still have a lot of rules to go over, but to my amazement, they are following the few we have started with.
Wish I did this in September!

By: pamgardner

pamgardner — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:08:17 +0000

I have been using this in my 2nd grade class for the last week. I inherited a WILD class from a teacher who left at Christmas break. I take 5 minutes off recess for every check they receive for behavior. It is working! I have one parent however who is giving me grief…..of course their daughter is the worst one in the class. I just keep trying to be consistent. Having the children write down WHY they got a behavior check has helped alot because the children can no longer tell their parents they don’t know why they got time off from recess.

By: Joan

Joan — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:23:18 +0000

I teach 2nd grade too. I am in a Central City setting with 98% poverty and more problems than I can count. We have little support from the principal. I modified the rules so they could understand them. I also do lunch time detentions. They are warned then their name on the board with LD behind for lunch detention. I turn off all the lights they cannot talk they have to stand and eat. It is working they are now asking me if they are being good. Also on Fridays students that have not served an LD eat lunch with me and get a treat and the others go to the cafeteria. It is working. It does take time and you can;t give in because they think if they have been good for 5 minutes that is long enough.