Sally Peterjohn recalls a time early in her 12-year teaching career when she was required to post a list of rules on her classroom wall. The poster included an assortment of positive and negative consequences that students would incur for following or breaking classroom rules. But it was an approach to classroom management that Peterjohn simply didn't use. "I had the poster up, but I didn't run my class that way," she says.
Instead, Peterjohn concentrated on involving her students in managing the class. It began with establishing a high level of trust between herself and her students early in the school year. She asked her students to work with her to create a "social contract"—based on beliefs they shared—that would guide the students' and Peterjohn's behavior throughout the year. And she invited students to help her establish a set of rules designed to maintain the positive classroom environment they had created together. Peterjohn reasoned that if she included students "in creating conditions and setting limits," they'd be more likely to follow those guidelines.
Her strategy was successful. "It was rare that I had to send a child out of class—only once or twice during the school year," Peterjohn says. By trusting in her students' natural desire to be contributing members of the classroom community, Peterjohn found that her students were quite "capable of self-evaluation and of deciding what's right and wrong."
Peterjohn's method of classroom management reflects what many studies have revealed: When given a chance, students can help establish nurturing learning environments and will earnestly comply with the behavioral guidelines they help institute. When students are motivated from within, say experts, all the external punishments and rewards that many teachers rely upon are not only unnecessary, they're ineffectual.
Understanding Behavior
When teachers offer students rewards, they ask them "to forget their needs," says Diane Chelsom Gossen, education consultant and author of Restitution: Restructuring School Discipline. "Kids can do that for a while, but not for the long term."
Gossen, who has a long history of working with "difficult kids," explains that "we all have basic needs—for love, power, freedom, and fun." And all behavior, good or bad, is purposeful. "We don't do something for nothing," she observes. Disruptive behavior results when a student, seeking to fulfill a need, ends up at "cross-purposes" with the needs of her teacher and her classmates. In dealing with such conflicts, says Gossen, it's helpful if teachers remember that "everyone has different perceptions" and that they can "collapse the conflict" by working with the student to determine how to "pay attention to both sets of needs."
"Teachers need to understand that students look at the world differently," agrees Marilyn Gootman, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia and author of The Caring Teacher's Guide to Discipline. What's more, Gootman says, teachers need to "look in the mirror" for the source of some bothersome behavior. If a teacher is concerned that a student talks too much in class, that teacher should learn to ask, Is it because he's bored out of his mind? What instructional approaches could I take to engage him in the lesson?
The teacher and student can also develop strategies that will minimize disruptions, says Gootman. "Agree on a signal that says to him: `I'm getting distracted and can't teach.' Or, ask him to hold his finger to his lips to keep from shouting out."
Teachers need a repertoire of such strategies to "help them meet the needs of children who find it necessary to disrupt a class," concurs Judy Anderson, principal at Sheridan Hills Elementary School in Bloomington, Minn. Often, she says, teachers focus only on the problem behavior and then take actions that "deprive children of their needs." What teachers must learn to do instead is to "think of the child's greatest need" when that child is a challenge in the classroom. Then, teachers should ask, Now what will I do if this is truly a needs-satisfying environment? What teachers discover, Anderson observes, is that they "can be very creative in helping meet kids' needs and having their own needs met, too."
Discipline as Problem Solving
It's important that educators understand "where kids are coming from" when they disrupt a class or break a rule, says Gootman. But it's equally important, she adds, for students to understand why such conduct is inappropriate and to learn how to avoid engaging in such behavior again, Gootman maintains. Teachers need to see discipline "as a positive way to teach problem-solving skills."
"When a child breaks a rule, teachers should consider it a teachable moment," agrees Richard Curwin, an education consultant and coauthor of the ASCD book As Tough as Necessary. "We often tell, but we don't teach. We have to show kids how to respond in anger-provoking situations."
For example, if a student calls a teacher a jerk and the teacher responds publicly in a way that helps defuse that student's anger, then the other students "will have an example of how to handle name-calling in a positive way," says Curwin. (In this case, the teacher might reply: "I really want to understand what I did to bother you, but calling me names doesn't help.")
It's also helpful, Curwin adds, to remind students of the principles on which the rules for behavior are based. If the class has agreed that being respectful toward others is a value they believe in, then students will better understand why "no name-calling" is a rule in their classroom.
This only works, cautions Gossen, when teachers and students truly embrace the principles that guide behavior. "Some teachers will do a superficial job" of soliciting students' input and will "persuade" students to hold certain values, she explains. The problem is that students find it difficult to honor values they may not really believe in. There's just no shortcut, Gossen states. "We don't want to interject values, we want to elicit them." Teachers, therefore, have to get into a "vigorous discussion" about values and give all students an opportunity to share their beliefs. Only then will students truly understand "how we want to be together," she says.
Beginning Early
The time for that vigorous discussion is at the beginning of the year, asserts Dorsey Stroup, a 5th grade teacher at Fourth Street Elementary School in Athens, Ga. "It absolutely must be done."
Stroup notes that in the first month of school, she makes a special effort to get to know each of her students. She tries to "find a link" with those children that have been "labeled as difficult." She plans after-school events and invites parents and other family members to attend. And perhaps most important, she holds several class meetings throughout the first month so that she and the students can establish norms and consequences together.
All of these activities take time, Stroup concedes. "But the payoff is that in the next eight months, we have an atmosphere in our classroom that is conducive to learning. I have more instructional time because expectations are made clear at the beginning."
Peterjohn agrees. Now an 8th grade English and special education teacher at Central Middle School in the Eden Prairie (Minn.) School District, Peterjohn begins the year by enlisting her students' help in crafting a mission statement for the class. Once they've agreed on their mission, she then asks, What is my job? What is not my job? What are your jobs? What are not your jobs? The class then works together to brainstorm how to ensure that everyone will be able to do their jobs.
Invariably, says Peterjohn, one or two students will respond with astonishment when "I show I respect them and give them a voice." Students, she observes, "are thrilled" to share their opinions.
Peterjohn says her approach to classroom management gives her more energy for teaching "because I'm not trying to control kids." Instead, by guiding students and "helping them see where their choices will lead them," Peterjohn believes she's giving her students a skill they'll use throughout their lives. "In the future, these students will need to be self-directed," she says. "I'm giving students a way to be self-controlled."
When All Else Fails
Teachers need a preventive model for discipline, says Marilyn Gootman, assistant professor at the University of Georgia. Yet "no matter how ideally you set things up," students will still misbehave. "Each situation will be different and require a different response," she notes. "But what doesn't change is that teachers should help students learn not to make that mistake again."
This doesn't mean that students shouldn't feel remorse—especially if they've hurt someone. "If kids do something wrong, they should feel bad," Gootman asserts. "But they should be taught constructive remorse." If a child hits someone, for example, the teacher needs to acknowledge that the student is sorry but then help the student "figure out how she can avoid hurting someone again."
"We're not into shaming kids," agrees Judy Anderson, principal at Sheridan Hills Elementary School in Bloomington, Minn. "It's not our job to make students feel bad." What students need is help in finding solutions "that are in concert with the school's beliefs and values."
Anderson also thinks that students and teachers need to determine together a bottom line for what is totally unacceptable. At Sheridan Hills, for example, there is zero tolerance for possessing a weapon or controlled substances such as drugs or alcohol. "We can never give up on the bottom-line issues," says Anderson. If a student brings a weapon to school, for example, that student is suspended. She stresses, however, that teachers and administrators can apply consequences in a way that communicates to the child that "we want him to return to the group."
Diane Chelsom Gossen, an education consultant, agrees. "Adults have the moral authority to say that some things aren't acceptable," she says. "But adults also have to offer students a way to make restitution. We need to give them a chance to heal the relationship they have with other students." Not to do so, Gossen warns, is to perpetuate inappropriate behavior and, possibly, violence.
Gossen points to policy at a school in Winnipeg, Canada, as a model for other educators to consider. "When a child is sent to the principal's office there, two other students go with the child to bring her back into the classroom." What this practice says to the child "is that she's still welcome in the group," explains Gossen. The student has met the consequences of her actions, "but she isn't humiliated—she's supported."
Safeguarding Our Schools
As teachers head back to their classrooms, memories of violence that erupted at schools across the country last year may be on their minds. Concern for the educational climate is widespread—and for good reason.
If children are afraid of violence, they can't learn, and if teachers are afraid of violence, they can't teach, says Richard Curwin, coauthor of the ASCD book As Tough As Necessary. He emphasizes that school should be a stable environment in which all students feel welcome.
Create a school violence action plan. An action plan is paramount to establishing a sense of security for students and staff alike. The knowledge that in the case of a violent incident there will be adults in charge who know what to do is reassuring for everybody. Action plans should include a signal to everyone that a crisis is occurring, the selection of a central command post, and instructions on where to seek shelter.
Address all rule violations. When teachers ignore "minor" rule violations such as cursing or talking back, some students are tempted to keep pushing the limits of what they can get away with. Punishing every violation stops gradual acceptance of unacceptable behavior. And when children know what teachers will and will not tolerate, predictability is established, resulting in a secure classroom environment.
Involve students as decision makers and problem solvers. It's easy to forget that students, too, are concerned about violence in their schools. Include students on committees that deal with violence issues. Share proposed solutions with the student body before they become policy. By allowing students to take an active role in violence prevention, educators can alleviate feelings of helplessness and teach students that everyone can and must play a part in creating safe schools.
Meet with gang leaders. Participation and suggestions from gang members can make or break a violence prevention program. Although rules should be established by school authorities, if gang members are enlisted to help enforce the rules, their leadership skills are focused in a direction that achieves positive results for everyone.
Educators should keep in mind that for any violence prevention program to work, everyone within the learning environment must participate, says Curwin. "When the entire school—from the bus driver to the principal—follows the rules and observes the expected behaviors, schools become what they are supposed to be: laboratories of learning."
Editor's note:As Tough As Necessary is available from ASCD. Other violence prevention resources from ASCD include Quick Response, a guide to preparing school staff to handle an in-school crisis quickly and responsibly, and A Safe Place to Learn, a video-based staff development program. To order, call ASCD's Service Center at 800-933-2723 or 703-578-9600.
