Classroom Management by Self Control

Self-control!

Teachers spend a lot of time thinking about thinking about ways to promote good student behavior. Call it student discipline or classroom management—it’s all about teaching students how to control themselves.

“Don’t you know how to behave?” It’s a common question asked by teachers countless times every school day across America. The question is typically academic — intended to voice disapproval of a breach of decorum. My point is that teachers who simply expect that students know how to behave are apt to be disappointed.

Classroom Management Calls for Teaching Skills

Too many teachers depend on discipline tips — including rewards. Good discipline, however, requires knowledge of factors that determine human behavior. For example, to what extent are teachers aware of the role of “cues” in managing behavior?  In other words, are there things present in the classroom or visible outside that might encourage some students to act out? Something as simple as a poster that has an anomalous picture or word might serve as a stimulus for a crude joke.

The best classroom control comes from self control because it is more desirable for students to internalize the ability to manage their own behavior, and the good news is that self control can be taught.

Suggestions for Teaching Self Control -- the Key to Classroom Management

The first step in teaching self-control is to model it. This precludes all-too-common practices like screaming at students, overt displays of anger, put-downs, etc. Along with controlled emotions, teachers much present themselves in a manner that demands respect.

On the first day of class initiate a discussion of self-control. Be positive. Make it clear that good manners are part of self-control.

• Be friendly, relaxed, and smile on the first day and every day.
• Have an activity that focuses on teaching self-control.
• Help students understand that control must come from within.
• Do not reward students for showing self-control. Doing so violates the concept of controlling one’s self. Material rewards are external controls.
• Try to omit rules based on pet-peeves.
• Work hard on mutual respect instead of rewards and punishment.
• Have frequent, brief discussions about self-control and character development.
• Read and learn what you can about self-control. 

Links re: self-control

Teaching Young Children Self-Control Skills

Teaching older kids self-control

Teaching Self-Control Skills to Children Reduces Classroom Problems

For Kids, Self-Control Factors Into Future Success

Games to Teach Self-Control in Kids

Punished by Rewards

Punishment Does not Motivate Students

How Useful is Homework in Student Learning?

As an instructional tool the value of homework is severely limited. 

In one corner there are those who argue that homework is an essential part of instruction – it builds responsibility, improves study skills, etc. In the other corner, with equal vitality, are those who want to ban homework – it creates extra work for teachers and interferes with family plans. Homework still polarizes educators, and there is a broad spectrum of opinions between the poles. A heavy emphasis on taking school assignments home is a fairly recent practice. It's use began to take off in the years immediately following the launch of the world's first manmade satellite – Sputnik – by Russia in 1957. The U.S. was embarrassed by this loss in the space race and panic pushed educators toward improved practices, since the assumpton was that schools had failed. Decades later, homework has still not shown to be a great idea. 

Homework is not Simply Something that all Teachers Do

Individually posted teacher policies present a myriad of procedures to encourage students to turn in the assigned work. School and district sites sometimes place stern warnings for students to do their homework or face disciplinary procedures,

Homework is, to say the least, problematic. There are many popular Internet teacher sites where teachers can exchange ideas across the nation. A perusal of these sites indicates that homework is of great concern to teachers. Teacher policies about whether or not to grade homework, how much it should count, and other matters create unnecessary worries.. Homework is a formative assessment. That single fact can put an end to the homework quandary.

Homework Invites Controversy

Part of the divide has resulted from the fact that homework as an instructional tool has developed in an uncontrolled manner with few rules governing its application and correct role. There is no one thing called “homework,” and in many cases isn’t even done at home, but at the end of class. Another problem is the myth that everything that students do must be graded. Arbitrary “solutions” have been initiated by many schools and districts.

Chief among them are decisions to allow no grade lower than fifty – or some other arbitrary level to be recorded. This is a way to maintain student motivation and respond to the problems created by zeros, but it is simply a convenient invention.

The practice has become common across the nation. Humble, Texas includes the policy in its student handbook, as does St. Simon Stock School In Bronx, NY. Monroe Middle School in Monroe, NC forbids the "recording or averaging of any grade lower than 60." Variations of these policies are frequently posted on the Internet. These policies have troubled teachers who see it as grade manipulation, and it is, but with good intentions. School policies serve better when they are based on a logical process.

Homework Needs a Redefinition and New Purpose

An analysis of the problem reveals a possible real solution. First, teachers need to understand that homework tends to fall under the category of formative assessment – those things teachers do while students are learning a new topic or set of standards. Students must be retrained to believe that work has value even when it is not graded. Schools have become institutions that place too much emphasis on grades. Schools must dedicate themselves to emphasize learning for the sake of learning.

Teachers need to convince students – starting with students’ first-ever homework assignments – that homework addresses what they will need to know when they are assessed with quizzes and tests – i.e. summative assessments. It gives them an opportunity to study these things and review them the next day in class and make correction as needed. Teachers will quickly check off whether or not the student has done the homework in order to let parents know if students are doing homework. That’s it! No grading, no arbitrary methods of turning checks into grades, and no zeros.

Students should be encouraged to use homework as part of the material to study for assessments. Next a summative assessment is given. Some of the assessment should sample knowledge gained from homework. When the assessment is scored, the students who were serious about using homework as an opportunity to study will score better than those who didn’t, provided the homework assignments and the assessments were in agreement. In this way, what was learned from homework is finally graded.

The same factors that might have caused poor homework grades are still in effect for better or worse but significant positive changes will result:

• Those horrible zeros have been eliminated.
• Homework is now about learning instead of chasing grades.
• Homework is for practice and diagnosis.
• Fewer papers to grade.No need for special homework grading methods.
• The responsibility issue is still intact.
• The teacher can still see the relationship between homework and test grades.
• Bribes and reward systems are no longer needed.
• Copying homework is now no worse than copying notes.
• Student evaluation stresses summative assessment; evaluation “pollution” is reduced.
• Less stress for all.

Link:

The Homework Myth