Thread: Classroom discipline and appropriate consequences

I'm an elementary teacher, so some of the techniques that work for me like sitting kids out of recess, won't work for you.

Still - there are a few things you can do.

Have you considered calling the parents? What about changing a kid's seat assignment - moving the student away from the students that he or she was talking to? If the behavior is truly disruptive, have you sent kids to the office?

Your classroom rules should also be consistent.

If you keep telling Johnny to be quiet but don't impose a consequence, this tells the student that you're not being "serious."

Consequences should also be consistent. If Johnny continues talking and you tell him to see you during lunch while Mary who has also been talking gets moved to another seat - the underlying message the students get is that your consequences are capricious.

You may also want to check with your other 7th grade colleagues. Having rules that are consistent from class to class would probably be easier to implement since the students would (in theory) be familiar with 7th grade teacher expecations.

Best wishes,

David

Our school rules say that the students cannot have food and drinks in the classroom. I can't go 90 minutes without a drink, so I explain that these, and getting to leave class to use the restroom are priveleges. I also use videos and activities as priveleges. The food thing might not work in a science class, but overall you have to make the entire class responsible for the students. My last activity every day is usally reinforcement done individually at the students desks. Usually they are allowed to chat as long as they are working. But, when my class has been overall horrid, they have to work without talking. I hand out detention to anyone talking, unless they are talking to me. Yes, I have to stalk around the room the entire time at first, helping kids usally, which I have to do anyway, but they figure out pretty quick that I mean it and stay quiet. Usually a few days of this gets them in line.

If it is just one or two students though, I would assign a detention, call home to make sure that they attend and then assign something really icky for detention work. I don't think that detention should be tutoring time, so mine have to copy a long paragraph that I composed. It is all about how their disruptive behavior cannot be allowed.

I hope that you found some of this helpful! I teach high school by the way, but my 9th graders don't rank too high up the maturity ladder!