Positive DisciplineBy: Sable Brown, Eliza Nolley, Colleen Barry, Mary Keck

“The teacher that is too ‘busy’ to teach

rules and enforce them promptly will

forever be out of time.”--Unknown

About Dr. Fred Jones

● Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from

UCLA

● Developed methods to help children with

severe emotional disorders○ crossed these methods over to special education and

general classroom setting

● Researched and developed classroom

management techniques

Basic Ideas

● Degree of teacher control is high

● Degree of student control is low

Beliefs About Children● There are three types of students:

○ Self-Starters--listen to directions, have good penmanship, and double check their work

○ Most Needy--constantly need extra help; they try when teacher is helping, but when the teacher leaves they get confused and become a distraction to other students

○ Middle-of-the-Roaders--between the two other groups (typically ~½ the class), C+ lifestyle, they always think “Am I done yet?”

Beliefs About Children● Children are wired from birth to connect with others

● Children who feel a sense of connection to their community, family, and school are less likely to misbehave

● Students need to be controlled and discipline must be taught○ discipline problems occur because of mismanaging various routines and

procedures in the classroom

● Children learn from actions

Main Ideas/Philosophy

● To achieve classroom control, teachers should use appropriate classroom management methods and model appropriate behavior

● Positive reinforcement over punishmento Punishment does not solve discipline problems; teachers can promote

cooperation through responsibility training, which helps students to demonstrate good behavior voluntarily

● Respect and encouragement are essential in establishing proper classroom behaviors

Main Ideas/Philosophy

● Focus on preventing disruptive behavior and losing instructional time

o 50% of classroom time is lost due to student misbehavior and being off task Avoid this lost time by systematically employing seating

arrangements, limit setting techniques, and responsibility training through incentives

● Goal is to keep things fair and consistent

● Importance placed on developing positive social traits as well as valuable social and life skills to build character

Classroom Environment

● The classroom environment should be organized

o Clearly labeled areas for belongings, materials

o Furniture arranged for easy mobility

o Assigned seating

Classroom Procedures● Operational rules: help the classroom run smoothly, and

should be practiced frequently

o They include…

Information relating to materials

Performance expectations on assignments

Classroom routines

● Breaks, arrival/dismissal, clean-up

Classroom Rules● General classroom rules should be...

o Simple, clear

o Limited to an important few

o Enforced every time they are broken

Teacher Techniques● Limit setting techniques--actions taken by the teacher to

control the student’s natural reflexes and motivate students back to work

o These techniques primarily involve the use of body language designed to convince

Body Language:

● Eye contact

● Physical proximity

● Body carriage

● Facial expression

Teacher Techniques● 3 Parts of Positive Helping Interaction:

o Trial and Error--helps students to build problem solving skills

natural environment provides contingencies that tell us whether our behavior is useful or not

o Modeling--modeling is key; students learn social behavior from this, students observe their teacher and imitate what they do

Management is leadership, the teacher must use good leadership skills in order to maintain classroom order

o Shaping--skills that are gradually and systematically transmitted from one person to another, the basic process by which the bulk of formal instruction in the classroom take place

Teacher Techniques

● Positive Instructional Support

o Move quickly from student to student

o “Praise, prompt, leave”

Praise--teacher describes what the student did right first

Prompt--get the student to answer their own question or solve their own problem by asking questions to get them to the right answer

Leave--move on to the next student that needs help

Teacher Techniques

● Incentives

o Stars

o Being dismissed first

o Work displayed

o Preferred activity time incentive for the entire class

When All Else Fails...

● Have a backup system in place for when students misbehave

o Backup system

Series of increasingly severe consequences

Allows for an immediate teacher response

● Facilitate a discussion--through public sharing students learn to be at ease with self-expression and to develop a point of view

References