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Describe one or two discipline policies in place in your classroom or at your school that adhere to the model discussed in this lesson. Have they been effective?
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Respect and accountability are high priority in my classroom. My students are held accountable for all of their actions to include their speech, homework, and behaviors in and out of the classroom. They must examine their actions before they talk about other’s behaviors. They are to respect each other’s opinions, thoughts, and/or remarks during discussions in the classroom. If at anytime any response or action becomes inappropriate, a time of self-reflection is given for everyone. If there needs to be a one-on-one intervention or group intervention, we will deal with that, but usually just the “mama” stopped me approach works for my students.
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In my classroom, I hold students accountable for their actions. If a student isn’t following directions with an instrument or playing it inappropriately, I warn them then I take the instrument away from the student. The student has to sit and wait for the next activity while watching their classmates follow directions. I may give them another chance. If I give them another chance, they follow directions (most of the time). It has been effective because it encourages good behavior.
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I start by teaching my students that discipline is of God and if an authority really loves us they will discipline us. I tell them that God is a just God and that both our good choices and bad choices have consequences. We discuss how all sin is evil in the eyes of God and He doesn’t just overlook any of it. We talk about how the wages of sin is death and every time we sin something has to die. In a “fair” world, we would need to die as a consequence of our sin, but because God is also merciful and graceful He sent Jesus to die for us. Because of all this it is a big deal each time we sin, and no sin is small. Once they understand this I tell them that it is my job as a teacher to teach them good habits to not sin and to give them a logical consequence when they do sin. We discuss how it is much better for us to suffer these small consequences and ask God for forgiveness than it would be to have to pay the price Jesus did. I never teach this from a place of “fire and brimstone” and scare the children, but from a place of logic and reasoning. Then, we decided as a course what some logical consequences are for certain sinful behavior we might see in the classroom.
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One of my big discipline policies in my classroom is respect. I base that on the idea that we are all created in the image of God and have value and purpose. Everybody in the classroom needs to be treated with the dignity given to any human being. I model this by respecting students. No one has to earn respect. We respect each other because of our value in God’s eyes. Due to the fallen nature of man I try to show some grace. I have high expectations. I hold students to those expectations, but I also realize we are all human with a fallen nature, so we all make mistakes. My middle schoolers are in a very tough transition period of life. They are trying to figure some things out that need to be experienced and lived out for some reason. I try to get in the head of a middles schooler and treat them how I would want treated.
The relief of time will only tell on some things, but I think the students buy in to some extent, at least in my classroom. I think students need reminded a lot. We all forget. We all mess up. We all lose steam sometimes. I try to constantly be reading where my students are. -
I have discussed these policies at length in previous responses. Students are responsible for telling on themselves and accountable for their own actions, there are consequences for wrong choices and they have to physically give back tokens that were received as rewards.
Restorative discipline circle time is used to bring the child back into the group after an offence has been made involving the classroom or individual classmate.