Online Class: Solving Classroom Discipline Problems

Managing an efficient classroom, one that fosters learning, understanding and cooperation requires discipline and clear, firm rules. The goal for any teacher is to maintain a sufficient amount of control over the class so that students are not disrupting the learning process, while allowing enough freedom for expression, communication and creativity to flourish. The best case scenario in an unmanaged classroom is distraction and inattention; the worst case can create chaos, pandemonium and even physical harm to students and/or teachers. There are many methods of achieving a well managed classroom that provide clear, kind, authoritative discipline.

This course will cover the most reliable of these such as The Behavior Analysis Model, Assertive Discipline, Cooperative Discipline and Democratic Discipline, as well as several others.

Additionally, this course will cover creating your own unique discipline program, one that is molded to work for you and your students. Other topics will include managing diverse student populations and working with parents of many types. Lastly, this course will address the extreme issue of how to deal with student violence.

Whether you are a grade school, high school, adult education or pre-school teacher or instructor, you will find great value in this course. Student and substitute teachers will also gain great insight from this course

Courses Frequently Bought Together:

Behavior Management 101

How To Be a Substitute Teacher

Positive Parenting Techniques

Course Motivation

Depending on their stage of development, most children will not yet have the emotional and mental maturity to self-discipline completely. Given the right opportunity (an unmanaged, undisciplined classroom), any child, from any geographic area and socioeconomic background, will become unruly and disruptive. Although it seems self-explanatory, many in the field of teaching are not exactly clear on what constitutes classroom management and discipline and how these two concepts work together to create a stable, structured classroom that inspires learning and reduces conflict. It is vital to understand that classroom management comes first: It is the key in keeping your students in a mode of learning and cooperation. Discipline comes second: It is an action taken to address the problems and situations that overstep the orderly management of the class. 

Classroom management focuses on three major components: content management, conduct management, and contract management: This course will discuss each of these components in detail.

Discipline Problems and Their Causes

Discipline problems can be as benign as not following minor rules (gum chewing, talking out of turn, chatting with friends, not paying attention, etc.) or major infractions, which are derisive and/or dangerous (violence, bullying, shouting, throwing things, arguing, etc.). One thing is for certain, if continuous minor problems are not addressed properly, they will eventually turn into bigger, harder-to-control issues.  

Tactics such as berating, criticizing, insulting and humiliating produce a negative effect on students. Rather than wanting to cooperate with their teachers, students rebel against unfair treatment and act out either aggressively or passive-aggressively in retaliation. Likewise, fear based discipline will create an environment of stifled resentment rather than positive collaboration. Many discipline problems can be thwarted if the teacher is armed with a solid plan of action and management before problems begin. 

Making Decisions about Discipline

The time to make decisions about discipline is before you enter the classroom. Waiting until the school year is underway and you are faced with problems to come up with a discipline plan is not a good route to take. This will cause undue stress for you and your students. It is important to devise a plan for handling various scenarios before you stand before your classroom. This course will introduce you to several methods that have been proven to work well. Learning the methods presented in the course will arm you with the tools you need to effectively manage your classroom. Doing so will keep problems at bay. In the event that discipline problems do occur, you will also have the tools you need to take prompt action. Use one or more of the methods introduced here, or utilize the lessons to create your own personal plan.