Behavior Management: Importance of Establishing Rules
By Adam Cirnigliaro
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
June 16, 2009
Classroom management is an essential aspect of being an effective teacher. It is important to establish rules at the beginning of the school year so that the children understand what appropriate behavior is. I think the most effective strategy for this is to ask the students what they believe should be the main classroom rules. This way, they will feel like they have been involved in the process and are not being told what to do. They will believe that they have more responsibility and are more likely to internalize these rules. If certain rules are left off, the teacher can suggest adding them in by bringing it up as a question to the students and then implementing them.
These rules should be applied consistently and fairly, although a great point was made yesterday referring to a previous movie we watched. Fairly does not necessarily mean the same for everyone. I think many people often make this mistake. Fair requires that each student receive the unique specifications needed by that individual. Every student has different necessities.
However, I believe that consequences should be implemented quickly after the unacceptable behavior occurs. By doing this, the students will associate the bad behavior with the consequence. Of course the teacher does need to be flexible and leave room for varying circumstances. If a much bigger problem occurs, such as the one we discussed in class about the student taking their clothes off, the student should be removed and the issue can be dealt with later. It would not be at all appropriate to handle this situation in that moment.
I also agree with the comment made in class yesterday that teachers need to avoid being too heavy handed in their approach to discipline. It can often become tiresome hearing the same nagging voice repeatedly telling you to stop doing something. There will certainly come a point where the students become so accustomed to hearing the teacher complain that they will tune their voice out. While working this year, I have heard many teachers use the threat of writing or calling home to a student’s parents if they do not start behaving properly. The problem is most of these teachers never follow through. If half of a school year has passed and the parent has never been called, the student is going to realize this is an empty threat and no longer respond to it. It is a difficult to line to navigate when trying to manage behaviors in a classroom.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
June 16, 2009
Classroom management is an essential aspect of being an effective teacher. It is important to establish rules at the beginning of the school year so that the children understand what appropriate behavior is. I think the most effective strategy for this is to ask the students what they believe should be the main classroom rules. This way, they will feel like they have been involved in the process and are not being told what to do. They will believe that they have more responsibility and are more likely to internalize these rules. If certain rules are left off, the teacher can suggest adding them in by bringing it up as a question to the students and then implementing them.
These rules should be applied consistently and fairly, although a great point was made yesterday referring to a previous movie we watched. Fairly does not necessarily mean the same for everyone. I think many people often make this mistake. Fair requires that each student receive the unique specifications needed by that individual. Every student has different necessities.
However, I believe that consequences should be implemented quickly after the unacceptable behavior occurs. By doing this, the students will associate the bad behavior with the consequence. Of course the teacher does need to be flexible and leave room for varying circumstances. If a much bigger problem occurs, such as the one we discussed in class about the student taking their clothes off, the student should be removed and the issue can be dealt with later. It would not be at all appropriate to handle this situation in that moment.
I also agree with the comment made in class yesterday that teachers need to avoid being too heavy handed in their approach to discipline. It can often become tiresome hearing the same nagging voice repeatedly telling you to stop doing something. There will certainly come a point where the students become so accustomed to hearing the teacher complain that they will tune their voice out. While working this year, I have heard many teachers use the threat of writing or calling home to a student’s parents if they do not start behaving properly. The problem is most of these teachers never follow through. If half of a school year has passed and the parent has never been called, the student is going to realize this is an empty threat and no longer respond to it. It is a difficult to line to navigate when trying to manage behaviors in a classroom.
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