Discipline Is Saying 'Yes', Not 'No'

I grew up in a community of strict Filipino elders who put the utmost importance on discipline. Being raised like this made me aware of the things I am not supposed to do. Being 'disciplined' is basically someone saying 'Don't do that."

Discipline is also one of the biggest priorities in my classroom, but I learned how to discipline a little differently from how it was like for me growing up. Although hearing a firm "Stop doing that!" was not only effective, but instant, I find that turning discipline into something positive rather than negative -- saying 'Yes, do that' instead of saying 'No, don't do that' -- has been far more effective than the traditional sense of disciplining.

How you phrase your statements is huge especially when teaching elementary. Yes, they're young and mostly innocent, but they are also old enough to value trust and independence.

Conveying this belief, trust, and responsibility to my kids has done wonders to my classroom management. Changing my words and tone of voice make managing their behavior so much easier. Here are some examples that you can use with your own kids:

• Be specific about daily classroom habits. Unnecessary chatter is a huge challenge in my daily instruction. I find that using specific voice levels helps direct the students to the precise level of voice you want them to practice at a particular moment. These voice levels are posted on my wall, and my students know them by heart.

Using specific hand gestures also helps. For example, Voice Level 1 (Whisper), can be illustrated by holding up your index finger to your lips. Instead of saying "Keep quiet!", simply say "Please use Voice Level ___. Thank you." It's specific, clear, and you don't even have to raise your voice amidst the chatter. You only have to make the proper hand gesture.

• Give your students a choice. It's common knowledge that kids these days rebel if parents only give them one choice. I find it very effective to convey trust to my students by giving them at least two specific choices. This gives them the opportunity to think through their actions and to be independent and choose on their own, without the feeling of an elder forcing rules upon them. For example, if a student is misbehaving, I would say, "You have two choices. Either you continue misbehaving, which everyone here knows will have a consequence (i.e., write-up, parent call) or you can be the responsible student that you are, and we can go on with our day. Your choice." 100% of the time, they end up choosing the positive behavior, because at the end of the day, it's also easier for them.
• Be consistent and specific with consequences. Begin as early as the first day of school, the most important day in all 180 days of the school year. Once you have established specific rules and consequences in your classroom, students will know exactly what to expect, and what is expected of them. A consequence is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, focus on positive consequences, or rewards. I always keep a consistent reward system in my classroom, illustrated by the following target board:

Target arrows with students' names are moved every day according to their performance and behavior. Students who reach the target by the end of each week will get to choose a prize. Students are always actively asking themselves, "Am I on target, or am I off target?" Again, this gives them the opportunity to make good decisions that would reap good rewards.

• Re-phrase your No into a Yes. Some examples:
• Say "Please walk quietly!" instead of "Stop running in the hallway!"
• Say "Make sure you are keeping your area clean!" instead of "Don't make a mess!"
• Say "Voice Level ____, please!" instead of "Stop talking!"
• If the student is seeking permission, and the situation calls for you to say no to them, instead of saying "No, you may not.", give them specific directions. For example, if the student wants to eat a snack before lunch -- and my students know I encourage them to save their appetite for lunch -- tell them, "Here's a better idea: lunch is in 15 minutes, so have some lunch first, then, after recess, if you're still hungry, you may eat your snack."
• Use catchy chants! My kids love it when I use the following attention getter, and it is so effective:

Teacher: 1, 2...

Students: Eyes on you!

Teacher: 3, 4...

Students: Crisscross on the floor!

Teacher: 5, 6...

Students: No more tricks!

Teacher: 7, 8...

Students: Sit up straight!

Teacher: 9, 10...

Students: Let's begin!

Be firm and consistent, but also never forget to get your trust across to these kids. They will appreciate it and will want to prove themselves to you every minute once that trust has been established. Good luck!

Funspiration: The Ugliest Rock

Reading was my absolute favorite subject as a child. I excelled at it as a teenager and took literature electives unrelated to my bachelors during college. I had always dreamed of one day becoming one of the reading and language arts teachers and professors who inspired me to read at least one new book every month and write at least one journal entry each day. Now that I finally get to live that dream, I realized that my strength as a learner back in the day has now become my biggest weakness as a teacher.

Having a child read and write these days is pretty much like pulling teeth. They could always think of something better to do than go through fifteen minutes of D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) time. My love for books makes this a much more pressing matter, and I'm always on the lookout for something inspiring enough, not only for my students to sit through the district-required 90 minutes of reading and language arts, but also for myself as a teacher and advocate for the written word.

Last school year, I attended a very fruitful training by Dr. Ben Barron, consultant at Pearson. Our school has been using their company's reading curriculum for over three years, and Dr. Barron shared some wonderful tips and activities that truly made the most out of their reading program. What really caught my attention was "The Ugliest Rock" activity.

"The Ugliest Rock" writing activity is a great way to encourage early readers to independently decode familiar words, comprehend the events in a story, and finally, write their own compositions. It's like hitting two birds with one stone--if you can teach kids to read and write at the same time, those 90 minutes would go by fast.

Here's how you can do it in your own classroom, or at home, if you are homeschooling:

• Build curiosity. Tell them that they are going outside to explore. Questions will be raised. Tell them that today, they are going to search for the ugliest rock.
• Activate their schema. Once outside, before letting them explore on their own, ask them to first think of the things that would make a rock ugly. This will get their brains working on narrowing down their search not just for any rock, but an ugly rock.
• Present a goal. Reveal that once they have found their rocks, the class will get to vote for a winner, i.e., the person who gets the most votes for finding the ugliest rock.
• It's time to explore! Give them about 10-15 minutes to see, feel, and experience their surroundings. More often than not, someone will come up to you and ask if they could also bring back an interesting flower that they found, or a weird looking leaf. Let them do so, but make sure to redirect them to the task at hand.
• When done, gather everything and vote! In our case, five people got equal votes, and I allowed all five of them to be the "winners."
• Build curiosity once again! Tell the class that they are about to be authors of a story. They are now about to write a story about their experience five minutes ago. Let them come up with the title, emphasize the beginning, middle, and end of the story by looking back on specific things that happened (i.e., lining up to go outside, which area in school they decided to explore, other interesting things they brought back, etc.). The teacher will simply write what the students will say on the board, guide the discussion, and encourage healthy debates when necessary.
• When the story is done, have the students read their creation out loud. Put emphasis on the fact that they were the ones who wrote the story, and how great writers they are.
• Print copies for each child to read out loud every day. Familiarity with the text they had written themselves encourages the habit of learning to read, and reading to learn. Not only that, but kids find it very fulfilling and enjoyable to read their own stories!
• Repeat the activity with other themes and ideas, but make sure you allow students to go out, explore, and engage in sensory tasks. At the end of the school year, the kids should have an entire book of short stories they had written themselves!

Reading and writing can be challenging things to teach and train students to appreciate, but with the right learning atmosphere and enthusiasm, these books will eventually turn these muggles into wizards!