education

Establishing Expectations at the Beginning of the Year The opening weeks of a term or year are the prime time to ensure solid under- standing of expectations, establish routines, and begin to build class cohesion. It is useful to think of this period as one of teaching or training for the students. Training requires practice; […]

Eliminating Disruptions Communicate through your actions that students can rely on you to maintain a safe and orderly environment. Even if you are totally committed to having a democratic classroom where students are responsible for their own behavior, this is necessary in order to garner the respect and significance you will need to create any

Establishing the Foundation Begin by establishing a welcoming environment conducive to smooth manage- ment. This means do the following: p Make sure the environment in which the students learn is set up properly with routines, time schedule, procedures, and physical space to facilitate smooth operation and minimize downtime and distractions. p Build relationships of regard

Discipline Tasks and Toolboxes P O W E R F U L L E A R N I N G E N V I R O N M E N T S ESTABLISHING FOUNDATIONS MANAGEMENT • Attention • Momentum • Space • Time • Routines COMMUNICATING EXPECTATIONS • Am I clear? • Do I have

Student Sense of Powerlessness Schools as institutions can resemble the army, prisons, and hospitals in the way they may systematically make students feel powerless. They can frustrate the basic human need for control by leaving little or no room for initiative, decision-making, and leadership. This environment makes a significant percent- age of children want to

Extraordinary Emotional Issues Some strong emotional reactions may be short term and the impact short lived, such as a feud with a friend, anxiety over a test, or a fight at home. Or they may represent long-term, cumulative, and more significant psychosocial issues, such as being convinced one is a failure, homelessness, abuse, or mental

External Physical Causes The environment of the class itself may be a mismatch for certain students, and a simple change of the environment can reduce or eliminate problems for them. The most obvious variable is the degree of structure in the class (Colarusso & Green, 1973). High-structure environments leave students less choice in what activities

Internal Physical Causes Sometimes seemingly inattentive students in fact don’t hear well. They fail to carry out directions not because they’re daydreaming or willful; they simply mishear key words. We have known inattentive students to be diagnosed with hearing loss after several years in primary school and after much energy went into behavior modification and

Value and Culture Clashes Cultural clashes between teachers and students may underlie resistant behavior. This cause should be considered in classes where students’ home life has strong ethnic roots in a culture different from the teacher’s. In addition to ethnicity, another cultural dimension to be aware of is tacit rules—unspoken cues and habits—of different socioeconomic

A Need for Fun and Stimulation Fooling around with friends is natural and healthy. Children would almost in- variably rather fool around than do their work, so teachers should expect that and not resent it. (Truth be told, we were probably like that too. And it never completely goes away for some of us; watch