Structure Among Chaos - Classroom Management 101

3.  Discipline is not meant to embarrass students but is meant to correct undesirable behavior. Unfortunately, many of my students have experienced being embarrassed in front of their peers by getting in trouble. If a student displays behaviors that deviate from our class norms, I always conference with a student without an audience. Sometimes that calls for me to call the student to my door, or other times addressing them after class.

There are times that despite all of my best efforts a student's behavior (fighting in class, cursing, etc.) makes it almost impossible for me to deal with them 1:1.  In those cases, I usually deescalate the situation by either calling for our discipline person(while still teaching) or have a student escort that student(s) out of the classroom (while still teaching).  After class when I have time, I always make sure to "touch bases" with the disruptive student, parent, and Dean of Discipline so that they know that their behavior is not acceptable. Sometimes these conferences end with the parent and/or student leaving mad at me and the school, but they understand that their undesirable behavior is not acceptable in my classroom.

With me being at my current school for so long, students are well aware of my teaching style and these moments are few and far between. Click here for strategy #4.