Discipline and Classroom Management

Discipline is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as a noun to mean, “The practice of training
people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience. As a verb
the definition is, “Train (someone) to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to
correct disobedience” and “Punish or rebuke (someone) formally for an offense” Looking at the
definition of management we find, “the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.”

Management refers to, “the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.”

• Classroom management simply refers to creating a learning environment and maintaining

student involvement.

Behaviour problem may mean different things;

• Extremely and intensely inappropriate behaviour and not just slightly different from the usual
• Undesirable behaviour that is chronic and persistent
• Behaviour that is unacceptable due to cultural or social expectations

NB:

• An individual with behaviour problem is one who is not able to develop or maintain a
satisfactory relationship with authority, parents, teachers and even peers.
• Some behaviour problems are profound and serious -> immediate intervention
• Others are mild and less serious -> ignore as you observe the trend

CAUSES OF BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS

Its hard to establish specific causes to all behaviour problems. However some factors can
predispose someone to mis-behaviour.

• Biological: genetic, neurological or biochemical factors

• Poor family relationships: interaction patterns influence temperament

 Regardless of ones temperament, the following may cause behaviour problems and foster
delinquency:

 Hostility in the home

 Rejection
 Poor and undesirable experiences in school: teachers response to an already disturbed child, too
lax or strict inconsistent rules

Education Department. Mrs Eunice Nyaga. Education Psychology Notes. 2021

 A disciplined classroom is essential for learners and teachers to succeed. Any teacher will tell
you that having a loud, unruly class with a lack of discipline is not conducive to successful
learning. Developing your classroom management skills is the key to maintaining a respectful
and learning-positive environment. A bit of skill and planning, as well as getting pupils on board
with your expectations and the consequences of their own actions, will pay dividends in the
attention span and overall engagement in your lessons.

Why Is Maintaining Discipline Important?

A well-disciplined classroom means a more positive learning environment. Children, especially

younger children, are naturally active creatures for whom sitting at a desk for 5 hours a day will
not come naturally. Discipline doesn’t have to mean children sitting silently and listening to the
teacher but it does mean contributing in a way that’s respectful to other members of the class.
Removing distractions of unruly behaviours will enable all of your learners to concentrate on the
lesson being delivered.

Very few classes need zero behaviour monitoring, if you do get one, you can consider it a very
rare find! Most classes have a wide mix of personalities and work ethics and it’s important to
balance individual needs with the needs of the whole class. A consistent approach and great
planning can reduce the amount of time you have to spend monitoring behaviour and develop a
culture of good behaviour which will positively impact your student’s entire school career.

Schools need to separate the terms discipline and punishment. We should have discipline in our
teaching and policies, guiding and supporting students as they grow. Teacher and administrators
should recognize those social and emotional skills students are lacking and work to mediate them
through instruction, not punishment.

Schools also should be clear and consistent in identifying expected behaviors and what success
in those behaviors will look like. It is important to be clear not only on what behaviors should
look like, but also in the contextual difference between appropriate behaviors. For example, the
behavior of an audience at an orchestra concert and a jazz performance in the same school
auditorium are difference and those differences should be clearly articulated and understood in
advance. During a symphony it is considered inappropriate to applaud until the final note of the
last movement of the piece. In jazz, applause is encouraged any time a soloist has done a good
job.

 Discipline is not one-size-fits-all. While a school-wide plan is necessary, the exact same
consequence for every student regardless of individual context is rarely effective for all
students.
 Make sure the intensity of the interventions matches the intensity of the presenting
behavioral challenge; for some students, the general school-wide approach simply doesn’t
match the necessary level of intensity.

Education Department. Mrs Eunice Nyaga. Education Psychology Notes. 2021

 It is important to treat every incident as a unique set of circumstances. The idea is to look at
the individual situation and determine the most appropriate response without comparing it to
other similar situations involving different students.
 Be equitable, not equal. Of course we know that there are students who require more
intensive and/or individualized approaches to improving their behaviors.

 School plans are best developed with student input. After all, it is their learning space as well
as your teaching space.

We are not arguing that classrooms should be organized in a manner resembling “The Lord of
the Flies,” but

 begin with a shared sense of ownership of the learning environment would be a good start.
The goal shouldn’t be to control and punish learners, but rather to build an environment of
trust and respect.

How do we get students to behave in class? Usually not by telling them to behave, but by using
behaviour patterns that ensure they behave.

Things to consider

 Have you set a code of behaviour in the classroom?

In order that they don’t break ‘the rules’, students first need to be clear what the rules are. A
behaviour code should be set with the students, where possible, so they know the consequences
of their behaviour. This is also a good activity for an early lesson. Get the students, in groups, to
think of examples of good and bad behaviour, then agree as a class on what the final set for their
class should be. Display this prominently on the wall or the board. Five or six key points are
sufficient. Sometimes, just pointing to this is enough to bring disruptive students back in line.

Also, a code of behaviour for the teacher should be included. This should state what the teacher
will do for the students, e.g. be patient, never yell, work hard to help you learn the language…
etc.

 Are the students really understanding you or are they missing most of what you are saying?

There is one way to demotivate students and that is for them not to understand what is really
going on. Very often, bad behaviour patterns are because students do not understand what is
being taught to them and they find no purpose in the noise coming from the teacher. Make sure
your students are engaged and finding relevance in what they are learning. This does not mean
games where students are over-active: fast-moving games are not necessarily the answer to
discipline. In fact, they often exacerbate the problem.

Education Department. Mrs Eunice Nyaga. Education Psychology Notes. 2021

 What type of ‘troublemaker’ are they?

Attention seeker: do they show off to get the rest of the class laughing?

STRATEGY: Ignore minor misbehaviours up to a point (set a limit). Be FIRM and

CONSISTENT; when behaviour is good, give attention to that behaviour.

Power seeker: do they want to ‘put one over’ on you all the time?

STRATEGY: Don’t argue or fight with the student; remain fair and firm about the behaviour.
Catch them out doing something good, rather than bad.

Revenge seeker: act defiant, e.g. a student won’t move to another area of the classroom when
you think his or her behaviour is unacceptable.

STRATEGY: Most of all, don’t act hurt – students see that as a weakness because they have had
a reaction. Convince the student that he or she is liked – find the student doing something good
and smile at and commend that good behaviour.

Withdrawn or depressed: gives up easily and then sits in silence.

STRATEGY: Ignore failures, but counsel regularly. When counselling, always give good news
first – e.g. I like what you did here – then counsel with the bad behaviour. Lastly, finish
positively – how the behaviour can be addressed and arrive at a solution.

Most of all, be FAIR and CONSISTENT and praise and highlight good behaviour over bad.

Tips and strategies

 Change students around

Have ‘bad behavers’ sit at the front of the class. This way you can move towards them more
easily and maybe touch them lightly on the shoulder or pause near them if they are getting out of
hand. Make eye contact as you move away. Sometimes these small gestures are enough to keep
students in check.

 Use soft reprimands

Find time to praise the good work the student does. If the bad behaviour is minor, then ignore it
wherever possible. Don’t yell. Remain silent until the group settles down. If you have some
students on side – those who do know what is going on – they will settle the rest of the group
down. Let them be the ones to say ‘shush’. Sometimes, simply clapping your hands a couple of
times brings the group back in line. Then speak softly, not loudly. This has a calming effect on
the whole class and means the students have to quieten down to hear what you are saying.

Education Department. Mrs Eunice Nyaga. Education Psychology Notes. 2021

  Encourage even your ‘worst’ student

When they are behaving well, catch them doing that. Say, ‘Well done’, ‘Good work’. It is
amazing how soon you get them on-side if they think you are finding them out doing good work.
Counsel when you can and don’t make it always about bad behaviour. Speak to a student after
the class, sometimes in front of their friends, and say how well you think they are doing. This
motivates the rest of the group, too.

 Don’t allow yelling at the teacher in class when students know something

Shouting, ‘Miss!’ and ‘Sir!’ and standing up and coming to the teacher all the time is another
disruptive behaviour. It can be VERY noisy if all the students know the answer and are yelling at
you, and you don’t want a rush of students all trying to show you their work.

They soon learn the discipline of putting their hand up when a response is needed or that you will
look at their work at an appropriate time. This makes for a more productive classroom and
students feel great when they are chosen to answer. You feel better too because you don’t have a
headache from all the noise!

 Move around in the proximity of the misbehaving student when the bad behaviour is
persistent

Not in a disciplinary way, rather in the guise of helping them with the problem they have. Maybe
they don’t understand something? Move towards them, see if you can help, then when you have
calmed the student, walk away with a smile and a ‘Well done’.

 Create some healthy competition and encourage peer pressure for good behaviour

At the start of class/term, put your students into teams. Allow them to choose a team name or
assign team names yourself, as you feel appropriate. Throughout the lesson/term, award points
for good work/behaviour and deduct points for inappropriate behaviour. Award a
certificate/stickers/small prize to the highest-scoring team at the end of the class/term. This
encourages students to do their best work and you will find that the ‘threat’ of point deduction
spurs students on to put pressure on their peers to behave well. If your classroom has digital
facilities, ClassDojo can do all of this digitally and is often very effective and popular with
young learners.

 Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Your (more experienced) colleagues and manager/s can often give you new ideas and approaches
to try. Colleagues who have had similar issues with their classes (or even taught your own
students previously) can give a fresh perspective and say what has/hasn’t worked for them.

 Be firm but approachable

Education Department. Mrs Eunice Nyaga. Education Psychology Notes. 2021

It often works best to start off being firmer rather than friendlier with new classes – especially
with ones you think may be problematic. It’s easier to start firm and then soften your approach
with learners than to do it the other way round. At the end of the day, students (even teens) feel
more secure when they have clearly defined boundaries and understand clearly what is/isn’t
acceptable. Parents will also expect teachers to be able to keep control of the class.

 Don’t lose your temper!

As trying as students may be, once you’ve lost your temper you’ve lost control of the class and
the balance of power then resides with the students.

 Don’t humiliate students

Whether this is by chastising them in front of the class, or inflicting demeaning punishments
such as ‘naughty corner’ (or even corporal punishment – still seen as acceptable in some parts of
the world), humiliating students will only turn them against you and cause resentment. As you
are passing the student, quietly say that you want to see them after class.

When talking to them later, get down to their level (either by sitting or crouching) so that you
don’t appear intimidating. Find out the cause of their misbehaviour and explain that it is not
helping the student to behave in this way. Explain why their behaviour is wrong and what
consequences (other than punishments) this might have for them and others (for example, how
their inappropriate behaviour might make others feel). Try to elicit all of this from the students
themselves, if possible.

At the end of the conversation, try to mention something positive about the student (for example
something they are good at or some good work they have done) and agree on a plan or agreement
going forward for how their behaviour will improve. End on a positive note, ensuring that the
student understands that it’s their behaviour choices that you dislike, not them. Making the
student feel bad about themselves won’t motivate them to change their behaviour.

 Get parents on side

Explaining (gently!) any behavioural issues to a parent/guardian can often be insightful. You
may discover previously unknown reasons for students behaviour related to their life outside the
classroom, or you may discover techniques that are used effectively at home / other educational
situations that work with the learner. However, tread carefully: parents nearly always dislike
criticism of their child, and in some cultures parental punishments for misbehaviour at school
may be harsh. Be constructive.

 Remember you are in control

Education Department. Mrs Eunice Nyaga. Education Psychology Notes. 2021

Be friendly, but don’t try to be the students’ best friend (they more than likely already have
one!). You DO know more than them (that is why you are the teacher!) and keeping a slight air
of authority will enable the students to respect you.

 With very young learners, try ‘fingers on lips/hands on head’

If the class is getting rowdy, stand at the front with a finger on your lips or your hands on your
head. The students who are paying attention will copy you. Slowly, the rest of the class will
catch on and do this too. Don’t stop until the whole class is quiet and copying your action. This
may require a little patience on your part, but is a good way to refocus the attention of a class,
especially if you need to speak to them as a whole.

Common behavior problems

Some of the common problems included students’ threats of physical attack with or without
weapons, distribution or use of illegal drugs, bullying, sexual battery and rape, truancy and
unwillingness to do homework, bullying, vandalism, alcohol and drug and substance abuse.

Afullo (2005) further reveals that in Kenya, school teachers find it difficult to enforce discipline
particularly after the abolishment of corporal punishment since discipline is often equated with
corporal punishment. One way to remedy Indiscipline challenges by the government is through
the Ministry of Education Science and Technology. MOEST (2005) suggested that guidance and
counselling services in schools should be strengthened to provide a new way of managing
student discipline. However, the structures for providing guidance and counseling in schools are
still so weak that it is doubtful whether they will adequately fill the gap left as a result of the ban
on corporal punishment (Republic of Kenya, 2005). Though strengthening of guidance and
counseling services in schools would provide the most lasting internal mechanism for managing
student discipline. Good school discipline ensures effective teaching and learning.

Effective classroom management and discipline procedures include the following:

 the teaching of classroom rules and procedures;

 the teaching of social and emotional skills;
 acknowledgement of appropriate behavior and desired social skills;
 differential attention and response to inappropriate behaviors in a positive way;
 the utilization of a variety of instructional modes;
 the maintenance of well-organized student learning materials;
 effective time management; and
 the promotion of emotional, behavioral, and cognitive engagement and re-engagement of
all students.
 Appreciate the theory of moral development
 Set realistic goals for individuals – all to experience success
 Have clearly set rules and regulations – boundaries

Education Department. Mrs Eunice Nyaga. Education Psychology Notes. 2021

  Avoid confrontational approaches to solving problems – makes people defensive to
protect the ego – small issues may become out of proportion
 Identify and help individuals satisfy their needs
 Offer guidance and counselling

Education Department. Mrs Eunice Nyaga. Education Psychology Notes. 2021