ANSWER TO THE MOST COMMON AND IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ON GOOD CLASSROOM

MANAGEMENT AND DISCIPLINE

Odylon P. Villanueva

Guimba East Central School

Guimba, Nueva Ecija

The following are the answer to the most common and important questions on good classroom

management and discipline:

I. How do I encourage pupils to behave and work with me in the class?

1. Act as if you expect pupils to be orderly from the first day on.

2. Expect everyone’s attention before you start teaching. Stop when there is noise.

Don’t teach over individual or group chatter.

3. Don’t talk too much. After a while, you lose the pupils’ attention. Involve them in

activities, ask questions, and pose problems.

4. Hold pupils accountable for abiding by the rules.

5. Be businesslike but friendly. It is important to establish reasonable limits and

enforce them. It is also important to smile, to have a sense of humor, and to be

warm and supportive.

6. Maintain your dignity. Pupils should know there are limitations in a teacher-pupil

relationship. You may wish to establish an imaginary line or keep a psychological

distance from your pupils.

7. Treat minor disturbances calmly. Small incidents can be ignored verbally; a stern

look or gestures will suffice. Know when to pass over a situation quickly without

making a commotion.
II. How do I handle group infractions or misbehavior?

1. Don’t wait until a class is out of control. When pupils are restless, change the

activity. When pupils are beginning to engage in disturbances, take measures to

stop the behavior in the initial stages.

2. Focus on the individual rather than the class. Try to divert individuals by asking

questions, assigning tasks, or reminding them that they are wasting class time.

3. Don’t punish the group when you are unable to deal with the individual or to find

which individual is causing a disturbance.

4. Maintain your temper and poise. Pupils will test their teacher to see how far they

can go; they are not being personal. Maintain your poise.

5. Avoid threats, but if you make one, carry it out. Don’t threaten the impossible.

Think before you threaten.

6. Analyze your own behavior for possible causes of misbehavior, especially if the

difficulty continues. Look at your mannerisms, speech, attitudes. Analyze your

rules and routines. Is your teaching interesting? Organized? Suitable to the level

of the pupils? Be objective in your analysis.

7. Seek help from others. Check with another teacher, guidance counselor,

disciplinarian, or supervisor. All of them have different roles with regard to the

pupils and will give different views. Don’t wait until a situation is beyond control.

III. How do I deal with individual offenders in the classroom?

1. When a pupil is involved in a minor infraction (whispering, annoying a neighbor,

calling out), use nonverbal signals such as facial expressions or gestures while

you continue to teach. If the infraction stops, don’t reprimand the pupil.

2. If these signals fail, move closer to the pupil while you continue to teach. If this

stops the pupil, don’t reprimand any further.

 3. If proximity fails, quietly talk to the pupil while the rest of the class continues to

work.

4. Avoid physical contact, especially in tense situation.

IV. How do I deal with discipline problems that cannot be resolved in class?

1. Talk to the offender in private, before or after class. Try to determine causes of

the problem. Try to reach an understanding or agreement with the pupil.

2. If you have to punish, make the punishment fit the misbehavior. The first offense,

unless it is quite serious, need not be punished.

3. Leave the misbehaving pupil with the feeling that he is ruining things for himself

and the group.

4. Ignore a pupil’s claim that she/he “doesn’t care.” This is usually a defensive

reaction. Remind the pupil that she/he really does care.

5. Give the pupil a chance to redeem himself/herself.

6. Use the resources at your disposal. For example, use pupil records, suggestions

from other teachers and the guidance counselor, advice and authority of the

principal of discipline or a supervisor.

7. Communicate with the parents. Most parents will support the teacher in matters

of discipline involving their children.

8. Analyze your methods. What are you doing wrong, or how are you contributing

to the problem?

9. If you have to refer the pupil to a counselor, disciplinarian, or supervisor, be

specific. Avoid subjective remarks. Stick to the facts.

10. Don’t rely too much on others to solve your classroom problems. Eventually this

diminishes your authority. Save only the major discipline problems, the ones you

really have trouble handling, for others to resolve.

V. How do I develop and maintain a positive approach to classroom management

(whatever discipline approach I wish to adopt)?

1. Be positive. Stress what should be done, not what shouldn’t be done.

2. Use praise. Give praise according to merit. Show that you appreciate hard work

and good behavior.

3. Trust. Trust pupils, but don’t be an easy mark. Make pupils feel you believe in

them as long as they are honest with you and don’t take advantage of you.

4. Express interest. Talk the individual pupils about what interest them, what they

did over the weekend, how school work is progressing in other areas of the

subjects. Be sensitive and respectful about social trends and styles and school

events that affect the behavior of the group. Be aware that peer group pressure

affects individual behavior.

5. Be fair and consistent. Don’t have “pets” or “goats.” Don’t condemn an infraction

one time and ignore it another time.

6. Show respect; avoid sarcasm. Be respectful and considerate toward pupils.

Understand their needs and interests. Don’t be arrogant or condescending or

rely on one-upmanship to make a point.

7. Establish classroom rules. Make the rules clear and concise and enforce them.

Your rules should eventually be construed as their rules.

8. Discuss consequences. Pupils should understand the consequences for

acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Invoke logical consequences, that is,

appropriate rewards and punishment. Don’t punish too often; it loses its effect

after a while.

9. Establish routines. Pupils should know what to do and under what conditions.

Routine procedures provide an orderly and secure classroom environment.

10. Confront misbehavior. Don’t ignore violations of rules or disruptions of routines.

Deal with misbehavior in a way that does not interfere with your teaching. Don’t
 accept or excuse serious or contagious misbehavior, even if you have to stop

your teaching. If you ignore it, it will worsen.

11. Guide. There is a difference between guidance, whereby you help pupils deal

with problems, and discipline, whereby you maintain order and control by

reacting to pupil surface behavior. Your main goal should be guidance rather

than discipline. Good guidance will serve as a preventive measure, whereby you

can establish order and control without having to assert authority.

12. Avoid over controlling. Assert your authority only when you need to and without

overdoing it. Be confident without being condescending or egotistical. The need

is to show you are in control of the classroom without over controlling pupils.

13. Reduce failure, promote success. Academic failure should be kept to a minimum

since it is a cause of frustration, withdrawal, and hostility. When pupils see

themselves as failures, they will act as failures. When pupils see themselves as

winners and receive recognition for success, they become more civil, calm, and

confident; they are easier to work with and teach.

14. Set a good example. Model what you preach and expect. For example, speak

the way you want pupils to speak; keep an orderly room if you expect pupils to be

orderly; check homework if you expect pupils to do the homework.

15. Be willing to make adjustments. Analyze your disciplinary approach and

preventive strategies by yourself and with the help of experienced colleagues.

Be objective about your abilities. Learn to compensate for your weaknesses by

making adjustments in your disciplinary approach and preventive measures. Be

sure your managerial techniques fit your disciplinary approach.