Rise of Weak Discipline

Rise of Weak Discipline
-The controversy over reasons for office referrals
Link to article- http://classroom-issues.staging.suite101.com/article.cfm/weak_discipline_and_principals



Being the “principal’s daughter” for seven years of my schooling has definitely allowed me to see numerous different situations that a school principal has to deal with day in and day out. The constant line of students entering his office allows for him to barely finish all other aspects of his job. This article brings up a really important aspect of teaching that doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention. According to the article, many teachers are sending their students to the office for reasons that are too frivolous, especially when it takes away learning time for the students. When students are being sent to the office for reasons such as dress-code infractions or not following directions, we have to wonder why the teachers believe that the needed disciplinary action isn’t their responsibility. Without proper classroom management, how can we expect these students to learn? When teachers are going through training it is important to make sure that they are not just learning how to teach, but also how to make their classroom a controlled environment in which focus and learning can take place.
Seeing student after student come into my father’s office every day, it made me wonder if teachers were developing a habit of dumping the responsibility of discipline onto the administrators. Yes, technically deans and administrators are supposed to handle a lot of these problems, but the teachers may be forgetting that they are just as responsible. If your student’s shirt is too revealing, make them put on a sweatshirt. If they forgot their supplies, lend them a pencil. If they are horsing around and using profanity, it’s your place to figure out a way to put an end to the problem and also come up with a way to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Actions regarding assault, drugs, theft, etc., of course should involve someone at a higher stature, but small infractions that are controllable, should not.
The idea that a teacher can find it appropriate to send a student out of the classroom for something so small makes it seem as if they believe that problem is more important than the student’s learning time. The rise of this faulty disciplinary system is denting and inflicting the learning process that is present in schools. This dent then allows for the education system to fall. It becomes a cycle of mediocrity that we really cannot stand for.


Link to Video (can't seem to get the video actually embedded onto the post)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHzTUYAOkPM
This is a McGraw-Hill teaching video from 1945 on classroom management and disciplinary actions.



Article of Teaching classroom management
http://class-issues.staging.suite101.com/article.cfm/teach_character_education_to_manage_classroom
Article about a certain "quiet" technique to management
http://www.napcis.org/PadrePioPrincipalJob.pdf
File on the job description of a principal (this particular one is for a Catholic school principal)
http://www.napcis.org/PadrePioPrincipalJob.pdf