Discipline

• Wait until student cools down before addressing the situation. Delay the consequence. Ex: A Missouri teacher experimented with this approach. One of his sixth grade students talked back to him. His immediate response was, "That kind of talk is not acceptable in this classroom. I'm going to have to do something about that. I don't know what it will be because I'm teaching right now. I'll let you know what I decide in the morning." The teacher said it was the first time that year that the student didn't argue with him. He couldn't argue because he couldn't figure out what to argue about. In the past the teacher had always given the student plenty to argue when they were upset. He realized that the problem solving process worked better when students were calm.

• Use a lot of questions. Instead of doing most of the talking, letting them know what they had done wrong, and telling them what was going to be done about the incident, one could ask more questions. Questions result in student doing the thinking and coming up with their own solutions. The students, instead of the teacher, own the problems. The students learn to take responsibility.

• Eliminate power struggles. When we offer kids a choice instead of making a demand, no power struggle ever begins. When we make a demand, we own the wise choice, leaving the child with the only way to win the power struggle - by making a poor choice. Given a range of choices, a child has endless opportunities to choose wisely. Students will know that making it through a tough situation is always an option.

• "Pride is a better motivator than fear. I never wanted to teach through fear, punishment, or intimidation. Fear may work in the short term to get people to do something, but over the long run I believe personal pride is a much greater motivator. It produces far better results that last for a much longer time. Who would I prefer to work with, an individual who has great personal pride or one who is fearful of punishment? That's an easy choice for me. Remember, pride comes when you give respect." - John Wooden

Punishment

Punishment models the use of power – as opposed to reason or cooperation – and this can profoundly affect a child’s developing value structure. Specifically, the child learns that when you don’t like the way someone is acting, you just make something bad happen to that person until he gives in: Do this or here’s what I’m going to do to you.

Punishment warps the relationship between the punisher and the punished. It makes it harder to solve problems together.

Punishment impedes the process of ethical development. Ethical sophistication consists of some blend of principles and caring, of knowing how one ought to act and being concerned about others. Punishment does absolutely nothing to promote either of these things. In fact, it tends to undermine good values by fostering a preoccupation with self-interest. “What consequence will I suffer for having done something bad?” is a question that suggests a disturbingly primitive level of moral development, yet it is our use of punishment that causes kids to get stuck there!

Punishment only brings temporary compliance.

• Kohn, Alfie. _Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community_, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 1996,2006.