Is discipline being handled correctly in our schools
September 18th, 2007
When leadership is discussed discipline never seems to be brought up. What is effective? What isn’t? What are some common issues schools are having with discipline? This might become an important, but overlooked aspect of school leadership.
Your Turn to Blog | Comments (7)7 Responses to “Is discipline being handled correctly in our schools”
Leave a Reply
To answer thisquestion honestly I have to draw from my own experience. I work in a middle school and by most standard that is the age where we need to teach the skills of accountability. Unfortunately in my school the lead administrator comes from more of an elementary philosophy. He thinks we should pat them on the headandsend them back to class and say they are sorry and all is forgiven. Our kids are convinced that they are accountable for nothing.
While we are trying to fix the situation in spite of current leadership, I think the following comment needs to be made. It is how I see our functions at each level as far as discipline is involved:
Elementary: Teach students the necessary skills, behaviors, and manners required to function in our schols, socitey, and culture. We need to be nurturing while they develop these skills.
Middle/Junior High: Start the process of holding kids accountable for their actions. Don’t destroy them, with it, but you can let them reap the rewards of good choices and hold them accountable for the bad ones they make.
High School: Practice being accountable for their actions. After all, these are the next young adults to enter the world.
If we do not adopt this approach, I fear we are enabling kids. We don’t teach them to be accountable and then send them out into the world which expects it of them.
What do you think?
I agree with teaching them accountability, but the administration has to be able to back the teachers up, not just pat them on the head and say bad child, return to class.
Also a problem we are having with our administration is keeping the punishment fair and equal for everyone. We have had three fights this week. One child received three days for fighting, one received five days, and one received ten days. Our rule book sent home to the parents every year states for any FIGHT the student will be sent home for ten days.
My question is, how was it decided the other two students only received three and five days?
Students need to understand the consequences. Administrators need to comply with what “their” rule book states.
I think that the most common problem in schools and discipline is consistency. All though school districts and the schools themselves set forth criteria for discipline, teachers are either not always following those regulations, or they just create their own. I am a fairly tough teacher, and I expect my rules to be followed. However, I am not one of those people who have fifty rules, just the basics like respect, behavior, and preparation. What I have found is that students have a hard time adjusting in my room when they come from others because those teachers do not enforce any rules at all. If all teachers were fairly consistent in this, I believe discipline would not be as much of an issue.
Whether elementary, middle school, or high school all student should be held accountable for their behavior. High expectations and consistency are key to eliminating many of your discipline problems. A student asked me one time, “When can you bend a rule?” I knew why she asked me the question. She wanted to do something that another teacher allowed her students to do. My explanation was that rules are made to keep people safe and to have some order to our existence hear on earth. Sometimes we can be flexible if the modification causes no harm and it is fair for all concerned. Students only do what they are allowed to do. If they are allowed to misbehave then they will continue.
The two resources I have found most effective for dealing with discipline issues are “Classroom Management that Works” by Marzano and “Discipline with Dignity”. Someone once said to me, when you refer a child to administration, you lose your control of the situation and undermine your own authority in the classroom. I’m not sure this is accurate, but it has stuck in my brain. I try to handle as many issues as I can, but there are times when administration needs to know.
I think it is ignored more than overlooked. I am betting that dealing with discipline is a thankless and unrewarding job. However, I do think that a well spelled out discipline policy that is followed closely and adhered too can alleviate a lot of the problems associated with discipline.
Thanks for you replies. The reality is, as new administrators, most of us are not going to become principals right away. We will be AP’s. One of the areas the assistant principal is in charge of is discipline. If strategies for handling discipline and everything associated with it are ignored by the graduate classes where are we supposed to learn it? On the job maybe? Discipline is directly related to the academic achievement and overall school atmosphere, so why we would such an important area of our jobs be overlooked? I’m not saying we need a significant time on the subject, just a broad over view on effective discipline plans and strategies to implement in the school we decide to work in.