Teach English in Fenhe Zhen - Chongqing

Discipline in the classroomDiscipline is seen as one of the biggest contemporary problems affecting all schools nowadays and it is argued that merely having a classroom discipline policy in place is not enough if it is not enforced. Here it is clear that emphasis is placed on consistency and continuity as key factors in the maintenance of discipline within the classroom. It must also be acknowledged that motivated learners are easier to manage and present less behavioural problems. Many authors have identified strategies to assist in the maintenance of classroom discipline, some of these include: the onus being placed on educators knowing their learners, being consistent, being well-organised, possessing realistic expectations, being able to motivate their learners and creating a positive learning experience. It is also accepted that emphasis should be placed on the reinforcement of positive behaviours and punishment for negative behaviours. However, the application of one specific approach is insufficient and leads to an array of difficulties with the regard to the educator?s teaching style, level of moral development of the learners and/or ones social context. Therefore an array of disciplinary techniques should be employed with regards to maintaining discipline in the classroom. Firstly, the goals and values of the school are to be reflected within the classroom discipline practice. Second, the educator?s role as a professional must be clearly defined. Thirdly, the learner?s role is to be outlined with respect to the schools mission and goal. And lastly, the schools approach to discipline must be geared towards helping learners grow moralistically so their behaviours become more desirable. By abiding to the above a teacher is able to make a value-based judgement on a learner?s behaviour and apply a customised consequence to that behaviour. It is argued that these consequences involve four stages which include, in the first stage, prevention strategies which are used to prevent undesirable behaviours while encouraging positive behaviour. This can be achieved by providing effective instruction, helping learners experience more successes contra to failures, recognising and rewarding desirable behaviours, changing circumstances that allow for misbehaviour and so on. The second stage involves redirection steps which are employed when a minor disruption occurs and helps resolve the relatively minor incident. Strategies to assist in the redirection step include: an ignoring of the disruption while paying tribute to desirable behaviour, sending non-verbal messages requesting misbehaviour to stop, verbally asking for a change in behaviour, isolating the learner before behaviour escalates and so on. The third stage involves strategies where consequences are enforced upon a learner who has presented with inappropriate behaviour. These strategies include: a conduct conference, with the leaner, to develop a behaviour-improvement contract, an implementation of a class ?assertive discipline? plan etc. The final stage includes team-support strategies in order to curb persistent and extremely inappropriate behaviour. These strategies include: sending the learner to another class for ?time-out?, involving the parents of the disruptive learner, involving the principal or deputy principal in curbing the disruptive behaviour and so on. It is accepted that the first step to ensuring the maintenance of discipline within the classroom is to create a classroom discipline policy. Here, it is believed that with a discipline policy in place, learners will have a clear understanding of what their teacher deems acceptable behaviour and unacceptable behaviour. The learners will also be able to have an understanding of what is to be expected from the educator. It thus becomes clear that the objective of a classroom discipline policy is to establish a consistent and just way of conditioning learners? behaviour. There is a psychological theory that argues that by involving learners in the creation of the classroom rules a sense of ownership develops amongst the learners. This sense of ownership is demonstrable in that ownership builds esteem, dignity and responsibility and thus the participation of learners is vital in the development of a classroom policy. In the drawing up of the rules first person identification (?we? and ?our?) should also be used so as to imply that the rules should be followed by everyone, and thus further emphasizes the sense of fairness and ownership. Motivation is also a key factor since learners who are motivated have presented as less in need of discipline. It thus becomes clear that motivation is of vital importance and motivation can be achievable through a wide array of techniques. However since this essay is focused strictly on discipline the discussion of motivation goes beyond the scope of this article. However it must be acknowledged that lessons, the teacher, the classroom environment and so on all play a vital role in the production and maintenance of discipline in the class.