Discipline Philosophy

Discipline Philosophy

In my opinion, a well-managed classroom is the result of a well thought-out balanced system of discipline. In my classroom there will be a community of caring and compassion where both the students and I are have our needs met. Students will be interested and engaged in the curriculum and there will be mutual respect shared between us. The students will take responsibility for solving problems and will realize the consequences of their choices. Overall, students should feel safe, engaged, and treated with respect, therefore preventing misbehavior and in turn intrinsically motivating positive behavior.

I believe children misbehave because they are not getting their needs met, whatever those needs may be. A child may be hungry, want attention, or feel discouraged and insignificant. It is my responsibility to reflect upon what I am doing to help the students meet those needs as well as to teach them skills to help themselves. To minimize the occurrences of misbehavior, I will create a community of caring by holding classroom meetings, giving students choices, modeling appropriate behavior, and developing mutual respect. I will teach engaging content that is developmentally appropriate and meaningful to students personally and culturally. I will teach to multiple intelligences and differentiate instruction to make sure all students can participate. With positive discipline techniques, clear and consistent expectations, and love, I plan to motivate students to make positive choices in and outside of the classroom.

In my classroom I will institute routines to promote positive behavior. Students will collaboratively create the classroom rules and agree to follow them. I will hold regular classroom meetings where students will talk about social problems and reach an agreement on how to solve those problems. This is a time for students to learn and practice intra- and inter-personal skills, as well as to develop sound judgment and a logical approach to problem solving. I will further the process by focusing on empowering students to take responsibility for their actions and realize the consequences of those actions. I will create classroom jobs so students feel they are capable and can contribute to the community. I will routinely use positive discipline techniques to promote good choices on a daily basis. I also will instate a system of positive reinforcement and rewards, such as table points and individual courtesy points to manage day-to-day behavioral issues. Consequences will be logical, natural, and agreed upon by the students.

With occasional extreme behavior, I will determine with the student what the motivation behind the behavior was and talk about other options or choices the student could have made. If it is an isolated incident we can work out a natural and logical consequence for the behavior. If it is reoccurring we can work out a behavior contract that will empower and motivate the student to make positive choices. If this behavior plan does not work, I will isolate the student from the classroom and from that point, follow the discipline plan of the school.

On the first day of school, to model respect and to invite cooperation, I will ask students to help brainstorm classroom rules. Students feel more compelled to cooperate when they are