Strategies to bring discipline in the class room

Preventive

To prevent misbehavior in the classroom, the teacher has to provide a stimulating environment that involves students so successfully that they spend little time thinking of misbehaving. The following methods can be applied to prevent misbehaviour in the class room.

• Make your lesson as worthwhile and enjoyable as possible. Remember that students crave fun, belonging, freedom, power, and dignity.
• Be pleasant and helpful.
• Involve and empower your students by asking them for input and help.
• Reach clear understandings with your students about appropriate class conduct.
• Discuss and practice behaviors to which you have jointly agreed.
• Continually emphasize good manners, self respect, and respect for others and be a role model.

Supportive

All students may become restive and subject to temptation at times. When signs of incipient misbehavior appear, bring supportive discipline into play. This will assist students with self-control by helping them get back on task. The following tactics are suggested for supportive discipline.

• Use signals directed to a student needing support.
• Learn to catch students’ eyes and use head shakes, frowns, and hand signals.
• Use physical proximity when signals are ineffective.
• Show interest in student work. Ask cheerful questions or make favorable comments.
• Sometimes provide a light challenge: “Can you complete five more before we stop?”
• Restructure difficult work by changing the activity or providing help.
• Give hints, clues, or suggestions to help students progress.
• Inject humor into lessons that have become tiring.
• Remove distractive objects such as toys, comics, notes, and the like. Return them later.

S. Sreelatha
Psychologist (LEARN)