Monday, June 14, 2010
How can you tell at your current school, when the students are not being disciplined?
We all have our own philosophies and opinions about how students need to be disciplined for inappropriate behavior. I have seen teachers frustrated because the students have no fear to go to the office to see the principal. I have witnessed students stating that "I can do whatever I want because the Principal won't do anything to me." I think this presents a huge problem between the principal, teachers and students. If students know they can get away with something, they will keep doing it. Bottom line, I want the students to be prepared for reality. We all know that in the "real world" there are consequences for not following the rules. If we don't teach them that now, we are simply setting them up for failure in the future.
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4 comments:
I agree! I teach in an elementary setting, and I believe that it is extremely important for the Principal to be viewed in a certain manner by the students. Students should understand that the principal can be a leader, give praise, and love them. Students should also have a clear understanding that discipline is different. Often, I feel that parents teach the students that teachers and principals do not have the authority to discipline children. The principal must have clear expectations for the students (and parents) and adhere to school discipline policy.
I agree that students should not be allowed to get away with things. I would like to point out that teachers sometimes make things worse. In my school some teachers were really strict on tardies while others weren't which created confusion among the students. Am I really supposed to be on time or not? Some students feel like if the teacher doesn't discipline for tardies, then they're getting away with it and it makes them more confident in bigger, more important things like fighting. Sure the principal sets the tone, but it is also up to teachers to follow through on classroom discipline. Also students do a lot of posturing. They may say that they're not afraid of the principal to cover up for the fact that they are terrified, so it's best to not put too much stock in student posturing.
I think I see a lack of discipline when there are overt extensions of the stated boundaries of what is acceptable/proper in the school community. Perhaps there needs to be more of a school-wide focus on being consistent/specific of what boundaries are for the school. I also think it is important to "major on the majors" and "minor on the minors." The problem comes when there is no collaboration/discussion on what the majors and boundaries of the school are. We need to be talking about it!
I also have experience at one of my past middle schools where teachers complained about the lack of any real discipline from the main office. But these teachers also blamed the noise in the cafeteria on the prinicpals, and . . . well just about blamed anything on them. There seemed to be an attitude of negativism toward the administration that permiated the hallways. I think there were feelings that these two administrators had no middle school teaching experience or much principal experience, so this gave the faculty permission to be negative. Negativism is like a disease. Administrators MUST be aware of this syndrome. It can affect discipline.
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