Discipline, often cited as the number one frustration by teachers, can so discourage teachers that they want to quit teaching. Staying the course will take the right perspective and purposes.
3 Tips for Dealing with Classroom Discipline
- Seek to emulate the heart and purposes of God in disciplining.
“… God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Heb. 12:4-11) — When we view discipline as an opportunity to work in cooperation with God to help students become who they can be in Him, our perspective changes. Discipline takes on a bigger, eternal dimension rather than merely managing problems in the here and now. When we use God as our standard, we tend to have a proper view of our own role in the process.
Teacher Training Tools:
- Effectively Handling Classroom Discipline Workbook
- Biblical Authority versus the Authoritarian and Permissive Teachers Worksheet
- Seek to get to the underlying cause of misbehavior.
If real change is our goal in disciplining, we must address the root cause. We must remember that outward behavior is motivated by something internal. — “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Lk. 6:45) — When we acknowledge the underlying cause, the solution tends to become more obvious. If we only deal with the symptoms, the problem will likely resurface.
Teacher Training Tool: Discipline Issues: What to Do About Specific Challenges
- Seek to be proactive, not waiting for problems to arise.
If we work through some basic strategies of classroom management for both correcting and preventing problems, we’ll at least have a starting place. The more we work through how we might deal with various situations, the better prepared we will be. We will not be able to prepare ourselves for every issue that may arise but will tend to be more alert for what could happen and put preventive measures in place.
Teacher Training Tool: Handbook on the Basics of Classroom Discipline