CLASSROOM
MANAGEMENT
Peggy C. Hawse, Coordinator
RESA VIII
Positive Discipline:
Meaning Business
• Being Consistent
– You are either consistent or you are not
• Consistency and Action
– Never make a rule that you are not willing to
enforce EVERY time
• Discipline before Instruction
– Instruction might be dearer to you, but it is
second on your list of priorities
Meaning Business: Part 1
Calm is Strength,
Upset is Weakness
• Little disruptions are the eternal enemies of
time-on-task
• Understanding stress
– Fight-flight reflex; calm is the opposite of fight-flight
– When you are calm, you think; when you are upset, you
react
– Breathe; take a relaxing breath
• Play your hand one card at a time
– Time is on your side
– They fold or they raise the stakes
Remember…
• Discipline management in the classroom is
first and foremost emotional. You can not
manage another person’s behavior until you
manage your own.
Meaning Business: Part 2
The Body Language of
Commitment
• Relax and slow down
• Show you are serious
–
–
–
–
–
–
Move slowly, “the turn”
Point your toes
Make eye contact
Relax your hands and shoulders
Relax your jaw
Take another relaxing breath
Body Language
Continued…
• Body language as
conversation
• What if they don’t
go back to work?
Meaning Business: Part 3
Follow Through
and Pseudo-compliance
• Noncompliance and pseudo-compliance
– Move the body, not the mouth
• Silly talk
• Take a couple steps
– The body language poker game
•
•
•
•
•
Walk
Visual prompt
Verbal prompt
Monitor with praise
Follow through
– High Stakes Poker
Meaning Business: Part 4
Dealing with Backtalk
T: Joe, I would like you to turn around and get some work
done.
J: I wasn’t doing anything.
T: You have been talking this whole period, and I want it to
stop.
J: No, I wasn’t.
T: Every time I look up, I see you talking to Serena.
J: She was just asking me a question.
T: I don’t care who was asking who what. When I look up, I
expect to see you doing your own work.
J: Yeah, but…
Dealing with Backtalk
continued…
• The first rule of backtalk
– It takes one fool to backtalk.
– It takes two fools to make a
conversation out of it.
• The second rule of backtalk
– Open your mouth and slit your throat.
Dealing with Backtalk
continued…
T: Joe, I would like you to bring your chair around
and get some work done.
J: I wasn’t doing anything.
T: (silence)
J: Well, I wasn’t.
T: (silence)
J: Well…
T: (silence)
J: (silence)
Dealing with Backtalk
continued…
• A comedy routine
– Student is the clown; teacher is the
straight man
– If students want to backtalk, at least
make them do all the work. Don’t do
half of it for them!
– Opening your mouth is like throwing
gasoline on a fire.
Dealing with Backtalk
continued…
• Nasty backtalk
– Student is risking it all.
• Responding to backtalk
– Short term response
– Long term response
– Hard for the student to blame someone
else when he is the only one out of line.
Meaning Business: Part 5
Exceptions to the Rule
• Emotional: calm is strength
• Mental: clarity, commitment, and
consistency
• Physical: the body language of
Meaning Business
HOWEVER the opposite of what we
expect happens…
Exceptions to the Rule
continued…
Strange Responses:
• Needy Students
• Was it me, or was it them?
– Any reinforcement will be reinforcing
– You must be very guarded
• Explosive students
– All with a history of physical abuse
– Parry reflex is a response to ward off a blow
to the head
Exceptions to the Rule
continued…
• Regulating intensity
• Calm in the eye of the storm
– When in doubt, do nothing
– If you are calm, you will have a calming
effect
– Gently motion toward the seat
• When meaning business fails
What rules do you need?
•
If there are no rules displayed in
the classroom OR
• If the rules do not fit your
situation/needs; then have two only
1. Do not talk when I am talking.
2. Do not be disrespectful.
Dr. Fred Jones’s
Tools for Teaching
http://www.education-world.com