When students misbehave, understanding the problem behind their actions can make all the difference in the effectiveness of teacher response. Teachers and students sometimes view the same behaviors differently. When students break school rules, teachers consider the behavior a problem. But for the student, that behavior is often a solution to some…

As schools continue to transition from pandemic-induced disruption to a new normal, educators must realize that the most vulnerable students are the ones who've been harmed the most. The problem is, because trauma and mental health distress aren't immediately visible, educators won't know "which" students are in a quiet state of…

Jackson--a former teacher, now a speaker and author--shares techniques he used as a new high school teacher to handle disruptive behaviors and threatening conduct from students, while remaining respectful and compassionate about the realities kids faced. His suggestions: establish rules early on and stick to them unwaveringly; understand your…

Teacher John Hayward believes no classroom can advance far academically unless the teacher has first guided the class to become a community. With a focus on the first days and weeks of school, the author shares strategies any teacher can use to help everyone in the room learn about one another and to show students that he or she will be a…

Teachers struggle with using consequences for misbehavior--because using consequences well requires a nuanced view of disciplinary situations. Anderson explores six factors that complicate the use of consequence: Confusion over what consequences means; confusion over what it means for a punishment to "work;" the fact that teachers'…

Charts that keep (public) track of whether a student's behavior is in some equivalent of a red (problem), yellow, or green ("well-behaved") zone are ubiquitous in elementary schools. This strategy based on shaming students is due to be retired because (1) it promotes only compliance, not social-emotional learning; (2) charts don't teach…

Schools can view challenging student behavior in one of two ways: (1) as a failure on the part of the student or teacher that distracts from the work of learning, or (2) as a normal developmental occurrence that provides an opportunity for the student to practice new or emerging skills. The authors of this article, researchers at the Harvard…

In no other area of education is the gulf between teachers and administrators wider than in the area of student discipline. When new teachers cite lack of administrative support as their reason for leaving the profession, what they usually mean is lack of administrative support in handling student misbehavior. When administrators complain to one…

Five criteria useful in evaluating any discipline model will help evaluators make sense of a complex issue. Discipline policies should be philosophically sound, pedagogically defensible, psychologically appropriate, pragmatically feasible, and professionally evaluated. (TE)

The effectiveness claims for Assertive Discipline made by Lee Canter and other advocates are not supported by the limited research that has been conducted in the program's 12 years of existence. (Author/TE)

In a response to the previous article questioning the effectiveness of Assertive Discipline, it is maintained that the decision to implement a program should be based on many factors in addition to research, and that from a practitioner's standpoint, Assertive Discipline works. (Author/TE)

Frustrated by her ninth graders' misbehavior with a substitute teacher, a high school English teacher shelved her recriminations and engaged miscreants in a problem-solving exercise examining the incident. Establishing a protocol to talk about problems openly, without fear of retribution, made a big difference. Boys admitted to some poor choices;…

A middle-school French teacher describes her frustrated efforts to discipline students and plow through the curriculum. She finally realized her job was not to dominate her classroom, turn out French scholars, or win a popularity contest. She settled for helping a few kids "beyond this point." (MLH)