Most children, as long as you are providing an interesting and entertaining class, are well disciplined and will listen to you if you use a firm voice to remind them who is in charge of the class. I always like to think that being a teacher is no different from being an authoritarian dictator: the classroom is your country and the students are your people; your way is the only way, whatever you say the students must obey. However, there will always be one or two rebels about, maybe as an individual, they are splendid people, but put them in a class with twenty or so other children and they become completely different. They become little nightmares, striving for attention and to be the ‘cool kid’. Yet after years of watching and evaluating new teachers, I believe the most common root problem of poorly behaved children is actually the teacher themselves – they are too boring.
There is a rule called ‘The Rocking Chair’. As soon as you see one kid starting to move around in their seat the others will begin to follow suit. The trick here is to notice the first child who starts to rock around in their seat. This means it’s either time to move on and start a new activity, or you have to change something about the current activity.
If the problem is not your teaching style and ability to entertain but the student’s general lack of restraint, then the best form of discipline is to use a points system. Most schools adopt a points system where if a student has a certain amount of points, they can trade them in for a prize such as a toy or a piece of stationary. If the school you work in does not have this system then make your own. Let’s say 50 points equals a pencil case, 100 points equals pizza or a field trip to the zoo. Make your system any way you want, just make sure you are able to fulfill your promises if a student attains the amount of points promised for the reward.
Points are a great way of giving purpose to a game or an activity, but how do you use points to discipline? If a student is misbehaving, take away a point, several or all the student’s points depending on the severity of their misbehavior. This will work for most students, but there will always be some who simply don’t care. No matter how much you discipline them, they just won’t listen to you or won’t accept your authority. If this is the case, then get the other students to discipline that child by erasing one, a few or all the other students’ points except for the misbehaving student. Immediately the other kids will get annoyed and discipline that one naughty kid, who is more likely to behave well if their peers are angry with them. This method is highly effective as it takes away the disruptive student’s motive because their misbehaviour will no longer result in them being the cool kid. For maximum effect use this method rarely and only as an extreme – if you do this too often the other students will simply begin to resent you and may misbehave themselves.
Keeping in mind that I see the teacher as a dictator, what must every dictator have? A feared judicial system. On your first day try to pinpoint the ring leader: the student who is either the most confident or the most popular in the class, and make him or her the classroom policeman/woman. You can create a badge and give it to them. It is then their job to look out for misbehaving students and alert the leader (you) of their grievances. The student police then passes out your justice (see the full list of punishments below). One very successful punishment is to send a troublesome student to jail (ensure the children understand what jail means).
Jail is simply a chair in the corner of the classroom facing a wall. The student police then determine how long the misbehaving student must sit in jail for before he or she is freed again. For extreme troublesome students, make jail terms as long as the whole class itself, the student will see everyone else having fun and hopefully in the next class, that student will not want to go to jail again – hence you will see a massive change in their behaviour.
On your first class, you have to be stricter and more severe than you otherwise would be because if the students feel they can get away with misbehaviour on the first day, you will forever struggle to discipline them. If you are overly strict with them and they realize that they cannot get away with misbehaving, you will have them under your thumb and then the next class you can lighten up with them.
At this point hopefully, you will no longer have any major disciplinary problems however, you may be unlucky enough to come across the devil incarnate within your class. I have had three students in my career as a teacher who I can describe in this manner. Do not fear, there is one last option for you. These students often feel they are above everyone, so make them above everyone. Rather than punishing them the trick here is to reward them with responsibility. Make them the classroom police; make them in charge of giving and taking away points; make them in charge of cleaning the whiteboard (I know it sounds like they’re doing your chores, but kids love to clean the whiteboard); make them feel special and they will cooperate with you.
One last point I would like to add to this chapter is that it’s very important you don’t get stressed. It’s OK if kids badly behave, they’re children after all. Children will always be children. I have seen too many teachers give up and fail because they let their children´s behaviour get to them. It’s your job to try your best, but it’s not your job to do anything more than try. If a kid is persistently irritating and disruptive, speak to their parents but don’t stress yourself out. Remember, teaching is only a job, it’s not your life. If you are stressed during class, your students will also be stressed.
Below is a list of ideas for punishments/penalties:
- 5-10 push-ups
- 5-10 sit-ups
- Run a lap around the classroom
- Take a shoe off for 10 minutes
- Dance for 30 seconds
- Do a 30-second speech
- Get homework
- Lose a point
- Go to jail
- Stand like a statue for 1 minute while other students try to make you move
- Recite the alphabet backwards
- Write your name on the whiteboard using your feet
- Pick something up from the table with your teeth (no hands)
- Stand up without using your hands
- Balance objects on your head for at least 1 minute
