Comments on: Classroom management

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:47:53 +0000

Ah, classroom management…my favorite. Right. I’ve actually found several ebooks at http://www.dedicatedteacher.com on classroom management and behavior that have been a big help to me. The site has thousands of teacher resources on other topics, too, that I’ve found very useful. Good luck in the future!

By: rita

rita — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:22:34 +0000

hey love the blog on first graders coughing. they do use the sanitizer stuff in our first grades and parents even send it to us (requested). also clorox wipes and spray from the cusotdian.
anyway, i too am teaching first grade, taking a web based tech course online with another colleague. we are way over our heads, having no real source of technology beyond email at our level. haha
so look forward to seeing more from you. hope you got the dr to give you something to hlep you feel better.

By: PDonaghy

PDonaghy — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:39:29 +0000

Very interesting post and blog!
You might be interested in adding your blog details to the International Edubloggers Directory at http://edubloggerdir.blogspot.com
Patricia

By: Miss Fox

Miss Fox — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:00:02 +0000

Thanks for the encouragement and the ideas. While I disagree with much of what you say on your website, I can certainly appreciate another point of view.

By: karim

karim — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:43:52 +0000

You’re on the right track when you say that the punishment must fit the crime. Using your examples, if your students cannot walk down the hallway quietly, have them practice over and over again during recess. You’ll see that it won’t take long for students to walk quietly. You see, discipline issues are really motivational issues at heart. What motivations do your students have to walk quietly in the hallways or use their inside voices in the bathrooms? Once they understand that EVERY time they break the rules they will have a negative consequence, then and only then will your students be discipline. Having said that, although I said that discipline issues are motivational issues, motivation comes from values. When you choose to motivate students to follow one or another rule of discipline you are implicitly sharing your values with them. If they do not share the same values as you, you’ve got a motivational issue again (i.e. a discipline issue!). Therefore, it all comes down to motivating your students to share your values. Once they share your values, they will be motivated to follow the rules associated with them. All this begs the question, are your values reasonable and are they valuable to your students? When you ask your students to be quiet in the hallway, what are you really asking of them? Why do you want them to be quiet? What value lies behind that request? Once you can answer that, you will truly understand what it discipline means. To read more, go to http://www.thelearningbox.info.