Discipline or Punishment

Through the use of discipline, teachers are able to outline rules and assist students in following the rules and demonstrating appropriate behaviour. I believe that discipline is a positive way of showing students that we care. On the other hand, I think that punishment should not have a place in the elementary school setting. Through my own experience in elementary school, I never understood why the entire class was punished with an after school detention because of a couple of misbehaving students. Through readings in B & S, I have come to think that maybe this was the teacher's attempt at getting the misbehaving students to feel responsible for their misbehaviour since the entire class had to stay after school because of them. Although, I am not sure that this practice would be effective in getting the message of responsibility across to the students. It definitely does throw the ball in their court in regards to whether or not they choose to misbehave again and allow the whole class to undergo the punishment.

Instead of punishments, students should face consequences. B & S suggest that students begin to accept responsibility through choices; therefore, I think that teachers should allow students to help them develop the consequences for their actions. Typically, as a class, rules are made at the beginning of the year. It seems that it would be most appropriate for the consequences for breaking those rules should be outlined as well. Although, I believe that this is a challenging task because not all consequences will be appropriate for every student in the class. Some students may respond to a particular consequence, while others may need a stronger consequence in order to develop an understanding of their inappropriate behaviour. I think it is important to note that a minor misbehaviour should have a minor consequence and a major misbehaviour should have a major consequence. In addition, I really agree with B & S on the fact that it is necessary for the choice (or method of solving the problem) to relate to the misbehaviour demonstrated by the student.

I think that Helen raises a very good question about the level of authority a teacher should demonstrate at the beginning of the year. As the 405 semester approaches, I think that this question will become more and more relevant. It is definitely a tough call between the two. Although, I think I am more so leaning towards scaling up the authority and discipline as the misbehaviour becomes more severe. I think this method would be more effective than a very authoritative teacher becoming softer because the students would be responding to fear of the teacher, rather than taking ownership for their own behaviour.

In her book "Quick, Easy & Effective Behaviour Management Ideas for the Classroom", Morgan (2009) suggests 10 R's for Behaviour Management. She places the 10 R's in a triangle to show the hierarchy of which the R's should be used. I have listed the 10 R's below. The bottom layer is the starting point and each R is a foundation for the next.

Results
Reprimands
Re-direction
Response
Responsibility
Rewards
Reinforcements
Rules
Routine
Relationship
Creating the 10 R's Environment

One issue I have with this list of R's in managing behaviour is reprimands. Through my reading facilitation last week, I learned that reprimands may lead students to respond negatively with outbursts or they may develop an internalized stress (Allday, 2011); therefore, I would caution the use of reprimands.