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Three Bridges to Modern Discipline

tutorial notes
Course

Promoting Positive Learning Environments (6732)

13 Documents
Students shared 13 documents in this course
Academic year: 2012/2013
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University of Canberra

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Week Six: Great Pioneers in Modern Discipline  Prior to the middle of the Twentieth Century, teachers for the most part used a single method of discipline, one that was forceful and demanding, often harsh and punitive.  Teachers possessed authoritative power and thought they should use it.  The years following World War 2 brought many societal changes towards equality and democracy.  Fritz Redl and William Wattenberg (1951) presented the first set of theory-based suggestions designed specifically to help teachers understand and deal considerately with classroom misbehaviour.  Wattenberg specialized in educational psychology and held professorships at Northwestern University, Chicago Teacher’s College, and Wayne State University. Redl and Wattenberg’s Principal Teachings  People in groups behave differently than they do individually. Students in classrooms do things they would not do if by themselves, and will not do certain things they would do if by themselves  Group dynamics, defined as the generation of forces by and within groups produce the group currents that strongly affect behaviour. Redl and Wattenberg claimed that if teachers are to deal effectively with group behaviour, they must understand group dynamics, how they develop, and how they affect students in the classroom  Students adopt identifiable roles in the classroom. Within any group, students take on roles such as leaders, followers, clowns (the show offs), instigators (those who provoke misbehaviour), and scapegoats (those on whom blame is placed even when not deserved).  Teachers are also cast into many different roles that affect student behaviour. Students see teachers as role models, sources of knowledge, referees, judges, and surrogate parents.  Teacher should give students a clear say in helping set class standards and deciding how transgressions should be handled. They should do the following: keep students attitude in mind at all times; should a desire to be helpful, never hurtful; be as objective as possible; maintain a sense of humor; and remember that all of us are human  Diagnostic thinking is teachers; best tool for resolving behaviour problems. Diagnostic thinking involves (a) forming a first hunch about the cause of the misbehaviour, (b) quickly gathering facts about it, (c) exploring hidden factors, such as background information about students, (d) taking action, (e) evaluating the results, and (f) remaining flexible and open to other possibilities  When teachers identify problems in class behaviour, they should make use of positive influence techniques, leaving punishment as a last resort. Positive techniques include (a) supporting students self control, such as helping them stay on-task, pay attention, and complete their work, (b) offering situational assistance, such as providing immediate help when students are stuck on work assignments or providing a break when students become overly tired, (c) appraising reality, where teachers point out the underlying causes of students behaviour and in a friendly way remind them of their obligations and request continued cooperation  Punishment is a last resort in dealing with class misbehaviour. Punishment is a lastresort tactic. If used, it should never be physically hurtful, but should consist of preplanned consequences that are unpleasant to student, such as sitting by themselves, making up work that has not been done, or not being allowed to participate in certain class activities. Analysis of Redl and Wattenberg’s Contributions  Redl and Wattenberg made five notable contributions that have helped teachers work more effectively with students.  First, they described how groups behave differently from individuals, thus helping teachers understand classroom behaviours that are otherwise perplexing. Second, they provided the first well-organized, systematic approach to improving student behaviour in classroom, replacing aversive techniques with humane approaches that promoted long-term working relationships. Third, they showed how to diagnose that causes of student misbehaviour. Fourth, they established the value of involving students in making decisions about discipline, now advocated by all authorities. And fifth, they pointed out the detrimental effects of punishment and showed why it should not be used in class discipline  These five contributions established a pattern that newer, more humane discipline would emulate  Teachers couldn’t seem to get a handle on the concept and implications of group dynamics, nor did they understand how to deal with roles they and students assumed in the group Skinner’s Principal teachings  Much if not most of our voluntary behaviour is shaped as we receive reinforcement immediately after we perform an act. We do something, and if rewarded for it, become more likely to repeat the act  Most reinforcing stimuli, if they are to have an effect on behaviour, must be received soon after the behaviour occurs. Reinforcing stimuli common in behaviour modification as used in the classroom include knowledge of results, peer approval, awards and free time, and smiles, nods, and praise from the teacher.  Behaviour modifications refers to the overall procedure of shaping student behaviour intentionally through reinforcement. This procedure still comprises a  Educators can think of behaviour choices as good or bad, depending on their outcomes. Good choices equal approved behaviour. Bad choices equal disapproved behaviour. Teachers must help students understand that their well-being depends on making good choices  Teacher’s role in discipline is to help students make good choices, continually, throughout the day. They do this by helping students see the effects of poor choices, helping them identify better choices for themselves, showing they must live with the choices they make, whether good or bad, and insisting they assume personal responsibility for making proper choices  Every class should have an agreed-upon, printed set of class rules. Students are allowed much input into established the rules that govern class behaviour as well as how the rules are enforced.  Teachers should accept no excuses for student misbehaviour. When students break class rules, they almost always make excuses.  Teachers must see to it that reasonable consequences follow student behaviour, good or bad. Consequences should be discussed and agreed to by the class. Analysis of Glasser’s Contributions  Glasser described misbehaviour as a bad choice and appropriate behaviour as a good choice.  He also popularized class meetings, now incorporated in almost all systems of discipline and advocated that those meetings be conducted with students and teacher seated in a close circle  Teachers were at first enthralled with Glasser’s view of discipline.  The major limitation of Glasser’s system of discipline was its unwieldiness.  Busy teachers just couldn’t get the handle on it well enough to work all of it into their daily teaching Jacob Kounin: Improving Discipline through lesion management  Shortly after Glasser introduced the concept of behaviour as choice, a new work appears that opened a new window on classroom discipline.  Previously, teaching and discipline had been seen as separate aspects of education  Although everyone knew they affected each other, teaching was thought of as helping students acquire information and skills, while discipline was what the teacher did to keep students working, paying attention, and behaving themselves.  Kounin became best known for his detailed investigations into the effects of classroom management and lesson management on student behaviour. Kounin’s Principal Teachings  Teachers need to know what is going on in all parts of the classroom at all times. Kounin verified that teachers good in discipline displayed this trait, which he called withitness  Good lesson momentum helps keep students on track. Kounin used the term momentum to refer to teachers’ starting lessons with dispatch, keeping lessons moving ahead, making transitions among activities efficiently, and bringing lessons to a satisfactory close  Smoothness in lesson presentation helps keep students involved. The term smoothness refers to steady progression of lessons, without abrupt changes or distributing incidents  Effective teachers have systems for gaining student attention and clarifying expectations. Kounin called this tactic group alerting  Effective teachers keep students attentive and actively involved. Such students accountability is maintained by regularly calling on students to respond, demonstrate, or explain.  Teachers good in behaviour management are able to attend to two or more events simultaneously. This skill, which Kounin called overlapping, is shown when teachers answer questions for students doing independent work while at the same time instructing a small group of students  Effective teachers see to it that students are not given overexposure to a particular topic. Overexposure produce satiation, meaning students have had their fill of the topic as shown through boredom, resistance, and misbehaviour.  Effective teachers make instructional activities enjoyable and challenging. Kounin described how fun and challenge delay satiation Analysis of Kounin’s Contributions  Kounin was able to identify a number of teachers strategies that engaged students in lessons and thus reduced misbehaviour  The interconnection he identified between ways of teaching and control of behaviour led to a new line of thought- that teaching influences discipline to a much greater degree than previously believed and that the best way to maintain good discipline is to keep students actively engaged in class activities, while showing them individual attention  Kounin made outstanding contributions concerning how lesson management can forestall misbehaviour, and he provided a valuable service in drawing attention to the close connection between teaching and discipline. Haim Ginott: Discipline through congruent commincation  In the same year that Kounin published his work on lesson management, there appeared another small book that had even greater influences  When correcting students, teachers should provide directions concerning the behaviour desired. Instead of reprimanding students, teachers should help them behave properly  Teachers should not use why questions when discussing behaviour. Why questions only make students feel guilty. An example of a ‘why questions’ is, “why did you speak to Susan that way?”  Sarcasm is almost always dangerous and should not be used when discussing situations with students  Punishment should not be used in the classroom. Punishment only produces hostility; rancor, and vengefulness, while never making students really desire to improve  Teachers should strive continually for self-discipline in their work with students. They must be careful not to display the very behaviours they are trying to eradicate in their students, such as raising their voice to end noise, using force to break up fighting, showing rudeness to students who are impolite, and berating students who have used bad language  Classroom discipline is attained gradually, as a series of little victories in which teachers, through self-discipline and helpfulness, promotes humaneness and selfcontrol within students Analysis of Ginott’s Contributions  Ginott insisted that the only true discipline is self-discipline, which all teachers should try to promote in their students  Ginott urged teachers to use sane messages when addressing misbehaviour, messages that focus calmly on what needs to be corrected without attacking the student’s character or personality.  Ginott’s suggestions as their total system of discipline have found something lacking. Teachers would like to have solid discipline system on which to rely.  Ginott doesn’t provide adequate suggestions for rules and consequences, nor does he indicate how teachers can put an immediate stop to atrocious behaviour  While teachers find much value in Ginott’s proposal especially if their students are well-mannered, they find the suggestions more helpful in maintaining good relationships with students than in dealing with students with students who are disruptive in the classroom Rudolf Dreikers: Discipline through democratic teaching  On the heels of the influential books by Jacob Kounin and Haim Ginott there appeared yet another approach to discipline, one which emphasized seeking out and dealing with underlying causes of misbehaviour  Dreikurs taught that these outcomes could best be achieved within the context of a democratic classroom Dreikurs’s Principal Teachings  Discipline at its best is defined as self-control, based on social interest. Self controlled students are able to show initiative, make reasonable decisions, and assume responsibility in ways that benefit both themselves and others.  Good discipline cannot occur in autocratic or permissive classrooms. In autocratic classrooms, the teacher makes all decisions and imposes them on students, leaving no opportunity for students initiative and responsibility  Almost all students have a compelling desire to feel they are a valued member of the class, that they belong. Students sense belonging when the teacher and others give then attention and respect, involve them in activities, and do not mistreat them  When students are unable to gain a sense of belonging in the class, they often turn to the mistaken goals of attention, power, revenge, and inadequacy. When seeking attention, students talk out, show off, interrupt others, and demand teacher attention  Teachers should learn how to identify mistaken goals and deal with them. When teachers see evidence that students are pursuing mistaken goals, they should point out the fact by identifying the mistaken goal and discussing the faulty logic involved.  Rules for governing class behaviour should be formulated jointly by teachers and students. Tied to those rules should be the logical consequences of compliance or violation. It is the teacher’s responsibility to see that stipulated consequences are invoked.  Punishment should never be used in the classroom. Punishment is just a way for teachers to get back at students and show them who’s boss, and is usually humiliating to the student. Analysis of Dreikurs’s Contributions  Dreikurs contributed several valuable concepts and strategies, many of which are important components of today’s most popular systems of discipline  He urged that teachers and students jointly should formulate rules of class behaviour and link those rules with logical consequences that occur as students comply with, or break, the class rules  Dreikurs also provided a number of more specific suggestions concerning how teachers should interact with students  Dreikurs gave encouragement a very strong role in how teachers should speak with students. He made the following suggestions: o Always speak in positive terms; never be negative o Encourage students to strive for improvement, not perfections o Emphasize a student’s strengths while minimizing weaknesses

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Three Bridges to Modern Discipline

Course: Promoting Positive Learning Environments (6732)

13 Documents
Students shared 13 documents in this course

University: University of Canberra

Was this document helpful?
Week Six: Great Pioneers in Modern Discipline
Prior to the middle of the Twentieth Century, teachers for the most part used a single
method of discipline, one that was forceful and demanding, often harsh and punitive.
Teachers possessed authoritative power and thought they should use it.
The years following World War 2 brought many societal changes towards equality
and democracy.
Fritz Redl and William Wattenberg (1951) presented the first set of theory-based
suggestions designed specifically to help teachers understand and deal considerately
with classroom misbehaviour.
Wattenberg specialized in educational psychology and held professorships at
Northwestern University, Chicago Teacher’s College, and Wayne State University.
Redl and Wattenberg’s Principal Teachings
People in groups behave differently than they do individually. Students in classrooms
do things they would not do if by themselves, and will not do certain things they
would do if by themselves
Group dynamics, defined as the generation of forces by and within groups produce
the group currents that strongly affect behaviour. Redl and Wattenberg claimed that
if teachers are to deal effectively with group behaviour, they must understand group
dynamics, how they develop, and how they affect students in the classroom
Students adopt identifiable roles in the classroom. Within any group, students take
on roles such as leaders, followers, clowns (the show offs), instigators (those who
provoke misbehaviour), and scapegoats (those on whom blame is placed even when
not deserved).
Teachers are also cast into many different roles that affect student behaviour.
Students see teachers as role models, sources of knowledge, referees, judges, and
surrogate parents.
Teacher should give students a clear say in helping set class standards and deciding
how transgressions should be handled. They should do the following: keep students
attitude in mind at all times; should a desire to be helpful, never hurtful; be as
objective as possible; maintain a sense of humor; and remember that all of us are
human
Diagnostic thinking is teachers; best tool for resolving behaviour problems.
Diagnostic thinking involves (a) forming a first hunch about the cause of the
misbehaviour, (b) quickly gathering facts about it, (c) exploring hidden factors, such
as background information about students, (d) taking action, (e) evaluating the
results, and (f) remaining flexible and open to other possibilities
When teachers identify problems in class behaviour, they should make use of positive
influence techniques, leaving punishment as a last resort. Positive techniques include
(a) supporting students self control, such as helping them stay on-task, pay attention,

Students also viewed

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