8th grade behavior

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8th grade behavior
By Carolyn

If I were in your position, I would contact all of your parents and enlist their help. Bring them in for a group conference/meeting to tell them that if their children don't do better with their behavior, their grades are
going to suffer. Tell them that teachers can't teach the children what they need to know if they are constantly dealing with discipline issues. We did that at the beginning of this year with our sixth grade class, and I really do believe that it has helped! They were little hellions last year, and we are seeing a better attitude this year. I would also be sure that your principal is

at this meeting. It just makes it more official. Your parents really do need to help you, or it's not going to work. Teachers just can't do it alone, and the parents need to know this.

You may want to get together with your fellow teachers for a meeting, also, to discuss a schoolwide improvement plan for discipline. If everybody would come up with a uniform system for discipline, this will help enormously. In one middle school where I worked, there was a discipline committee consisting of several lead teachers who themselves had good classroom management and experience. Children who misbehaved went before the committee to discuss their discipline issues. It is intimidating for a kid to appear before a group of teachers in this way, and may deter a student from getting into trouble anymore. Teachers in this system gave out points for infractions. Once students received three points, they appeared before the committee, who issued the punishment--usually an after-school detention for the first offense. I was amazed how well the students responded to the point system. Most did not want to earn points.

Good luck and let us know how things go.