Every teacher first and foremost worries about classroom discipline. What exactly is classroom discipline? Classroom discipline is defined as a teacher’s routine for rewarding, punishing and maintaining desired behaviors. A teacher cannot begin to teach without an acceptable level of classroom discipline. Maintain classroom discipline, and you will feed the learning process. Classroom discipline comes first.

Classroom discipline is:

A companion to classroom management.

Part of a routine class session.

A system to maintain desired behaviors.

            Never scream, yell, or be in a student’s face. You will not maintain classroom discipline this way. You will only wear out your jaw muscles, get headaches, and be a bundle of nerves at the end of the day. And then, you will dread tomorrow.

            In fact, a teacher should practice actively relaxing his or her jaw muscles, and avoid teeth clenching. If you make a note of this throughout the day, you will realize just how much you have a tendency to do these things. Do not make a list of rules. Students already know them. The school has rules. In fact, if you do not have a list of rules, you will never be held accountable to keep or enforce them yourself! And what if you miss one? Students will bend rules and dare you to enforce them. Or worst yet. They will break a rule not on your list and then laugh as you cannot enforce a rule that you forgot to write down. So please just forget a list. If you insist on a list, you can refer to the section just after this one. But please, read the rest of this and think twice.

            Classroom discipline starts on the first day, and continues each and everyday. The first day of school, begin each class by simply saying that you expect each and every student to be in class, on time, ready to work, and that you expect outmost respect from them and how they treat each other. Tha’t it. Each and every little rule cannot be written. But all desired behaviors are in that previous statement. Make that statement part of your opening class routine.

 

By: Estelita S. Maglaqui | Teacher III | Daang Bago Elem. School | Dinalupihan, Bataan