discipline

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Home : 2004 : November : 13

discipline
By Becky

Oh, I remember those first few years of teaching and the hell a new teacher goes through...I am a teacher of 28 years in public school...20 of those years teaching 7th and 8th grade resource students with learning disabilities..if
it a theory I have tried it..I have been to every workshop from Fred Jones to Ruby Payne...and it wasn't until 5 years ago that I hit on the secret...ask yourself..what motivates most people? of course, money..so I walked into class and announced that today was the first day of their job..they looked confused...and like my job you will be paid..now I had their attention...I handed

out a sheet that listed the ways they could be fined and went over each fine with that student and how much they would be fined if they chose to be irresponsible...and then I handed them a sheet with ways they could spend the points they earned...since I teach math they must keep a checkbook of their points...of course I am the banker and my records are the final ones..I no longer say a word to them about their behavior..they are not stupid they know when they are misbehaving..I simply look at them and the other students will say oh..you have just been fined for off task behavior or whatever the disruptive behavior is...in December and again in May I have an auction that the students can purchase items using their points. These items are donated by the community, teachers and the
PTO. I also asked the PTO to give me $250 per semester so that I may buy items to auction that are not donated..we have given away bicycles, stereo systems, yearbooks, cd players, picture frames, clothes, etc..the kids make a list of wish items and I try to get as many of them as I can..I put my PTO in charge of collecting the items from the community..It has worked like a charm..another thing I did was explain the program to my Assistant Principal..now when one of my students go to the office he throws the book at them b/c he knows my program...if they ever go into negative numbers they are sent each and every time they talk or off task or if they are tardy to class...as for as the tardies...once my door is closed..I lock the door..they can not come in unless they go to the office for an admit slip and then when they come to class I assign them lunch detention..that means they do not get to eat with their friends..they hate that punishment...as for as homework..which they have homework each night...each time they do not do their homework they are assigned a lunch detention..after they have been assigned 3 lunch detentions for not doing homework..then I begin to assign after school detention...when the parents begin to be inconvienced then the parents begin getting involved...once i have assigned 3 after school detentions then I send them to the office on a referral..and when I list that they have not turned in homework 6 times and I have assigned lunch detentions 3 times and after school detentions 3 times they are sent to in school suspension for 3 days by the principal...But there is one IMPORTANT thing you have to do...BE CONSISTENT...Never waiver, do not change...be firm..it only took my students 3 days to get the rules and behavior change radically..If you would like to see my fine list and my reward list and my point sheet I would be happy to send you a copy...it sounds like it is time consuming but it takes only a few minutes each day....I can not take credit for this idea...go to amazon.com and buy the book BIG BUCKS for $10...it will explain the entire program to you..and what is great about this program is that it is so flexible that you can fit it to your specific needs...Hope this helps..let me know....