Five Best Strategies to Achieve Classroom Discipline

The act of teaching is regarded to be a noble profession, but it could sometimes prove to be quite challenging a task when teaching young children. If you believe teaching to be constrained within the concept of imparting knowledge and evaluating what children have gained at the end of an academic year, you’re in for a huge roller coaster ride.

It has been much vividly observed that more than often teachers are unable to gain the students’ attention towards them or help them develop an interest in the subject they are teaching. They would complain about the students being noisy, inattentive in the class or of actions that express a lack of classroom discipline. Teachers who try to take strict control over the class on such occasions often find themselves in a difficult situation that bears a possibility of impairing the teacher-student relationship. If you’re experiencing such a fix as a teacher, keep your eyes glued to this article for some amazing tips to achieve both classroom discipline and love from your students.

WHAT IS CLASSROOM DISCIPLINE?

Silence looming over the classroom with blank faces all across the desks. The constant sound of scribbling on the notebook, and the only voice of the teacher echoing in the room. Is that the ideal classroom discipline you believe in as a teacher?

Before you implement your strategies to achieve classroom discipline, it is necessary to know what you are actually looking for. Classroom discipline is a complex concept especially with its layers of subjectivity. It is possible that every teacher might have their own definition of the concept or some might share a particular view. Nevertheless, the wish to come to a peaceful understanding with the students remains the heart of the concept.

Traditional approaches to classroom discipline tend to establish the teacher as the ultimate power who must be respected by the children. As a teacher, you must be familiar with bits and pieces of child psychology if not completely acquainted with its theories. Child psychology provides you with a guide on how to approach a child and mould them in a way that would help you to bond with the child as well as establish an understanding with him. As is evident, every aspect of teaching is interlinked in a way that one cannot successfully exist without the other. Child psychology and classroom discipline are interlinked with each other on such similar terms. Classroom discipline, in simpler terms, is the need to acquire a desirable learning environment where the student and the teacher have equal and effective participation in the teaching-learning process. Hence, the desirable learning environment would be achieved only when the teacher is able to grasp students’ interest before actually teaching them the information. The role of a teacher is enhanced to that of a facilitator who guides the children and motivates them to learn.  

5 REASONS WHY CHILDREN MIGHT LACK THE DESIRED CLASSROOM DISCIPLINE  

It is also important that as teachers, you must be aware of the possible reasons that can act as barriers in achieving your classroom discipline. There are five possible reasons that might cause children to lack your much-needed classroom discipline:

• Learners, irrespective of their age group, are more prone to visualization than plain explanation. If the subject you’re teaching them proves to be uninteresting to them which they cannot visualize, their minds are bound to wander over.
• Learners, most of the younger age group, do not like the constantly strained classroom environment. Their minds are more adventurous, always eager for some fun. So look into their schedule and find out what their psychological charge might be at the hour of your class.
• Learners are categorized based on their learning pace. Most often, slow learners might feel left out during a class which appears to be going quite well for the rest of the students. These are occasions on which you might be in for some distractions and disturbances caused by such students under the impression to fit in with the rest of the class.
• The relationship of the teacher/ facilitator with the students also plays a huge role in maintaining classroom discipline. If the students find you to be too controlling, they would take to dislike you and would rather discuss issues with their friends rather than listening to what you might be teaching. And most of us have been players of it in our days as learners, wouldn’t you agree?
• A child’s background and environment at home can also be a cause of lack in classroom discipline. However, it’s not possible for a teacher to know about each child’s daily experiences at home.  

Once you are well aware of the obstacles that come in creating a disciplined learning atmosphere, implementing the strategies becomes much easier and effective. So here go the much-awaited tips for you to establish classroom discipline.

BEST FIVE STRATEGIES TO IMPLEMENT FOR CREATING A DISCIPLINED CLASSROOM

Punishments are no more the answer to an ideal classroom discipline. Getting a strict hand over the students is important but not in a way where your relationship with the students might be at stake. So what should you do? Here’s an impressive vade mecum awaiting you.

 

• Introduce Attractive Rules in Your Classroom: Rules and attractive? Do they ever complement each other? Is it even serious? These might be the thoughts that are popping in your mind now. Well, that’s the charm. The stricter the rules are, the farther your success lies. Why follow the traditional concepts in the modern world when you can make learning fun yet disciplined in your own way! Come up with innovative rules such as most participation shall be rewarded, active responses would receive pleasing remarks or grades or stars and such others. It would create an urge in the students to perform their best.

 

• Be Approachable Yet Authoritative: You don’t want to be Professor Snape with an aura of being overtly distant. Children would be more connected with and favour the Dumbledore in you. Being friendly to the children doesn’t mean supporting them even in their wrong deeds. If you want to have a disciplined classroom, you need to win their favour first! Allow children to express themselves but also help them understand the impact of their behaviours. You have to be approachable to them and support them for all their righteous actions.  Once you learn to listen to their expressions, only then can you expect them to listen to you.

 

• Allow Fun in Your Classes: A little confused? Well, by fun we don’t mean flying paper planes across the room or spraying water over each other. Make your lessons less boring and more engaging with puzzles, games or innovative mind-bogglers that would compel them to think instead of you telling them to do so. Children love to participate in activities that promise them fun. So go ahead and allow them to have some fun.

 

 

• Be Fair: Irrespective of the scenarios that arise in a class, you must always be fair to the students. It has been observed that more than often, students feel relieved when you take into attention the mischiefs caused by one or two’s in the class instead of ignoring them. You have to remove the sense of partiality from among the students as well as yourself. However, it is also important that you find out the reason behind one’s misbehavior so that the child doesn’t feel neglected for his/ her mischiefs.

 

• Organize Firm Discussion Sessions: This is more of a teaching method than a strategy but helps a great deal in maintaining classroom discipline. Once in a while, don’t teach in the class. Instead, hold sessions to clear their doubts and raise their queries. Be a little firm so they know that the sessions are important. That makes them more attentive in the class. 

 

ADOPTING INNOVATIONS

Classroom Discipline in its traditional concept has always meant the presence of power in the form of the teacher. However, with the changing world, approaches to education are also taking a new shape that allows students to be carefree and eager to learn with varying methods. By adopting the innovations in achieving classroom discipline you would help children become achievers to a much greater extent than ever before.