Discipline

Subject: Good Listeners
From: GUEST,Rachel
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 09:54 AM

My students are not good listeners. How can I make them listen to me more attentively and follow my directioms and rules?

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: GUEST,ChrisE
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 10:06 AM

Depends on how old they are

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 10:13 AM

There was some advice in your thread Know of a good Classroom management book.

Humans, including students, are good listeners when there's something good to listen to. If they get something out of it, they listen. Be interesting. Asking a variety of inspiring, thought provoking questions may help.

As far as dictums and rules - what, specifically, are you having problems with?

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 10:18 AM

Sorry - meant directions. If it sounds like I'm not fond of directions and rules, I'm not, but I realise the need for them.

I still think an example or two of specific problems would be more apt to get useful replies.

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 10:26 AM

Wrong website. This is forum on blues and folk music. Please don't encourage these inappropriate questions!

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 10:36 AM

Oh, yeah, GUEST, esp. if she happens to be talking about music students, huh?!

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: Sarah2
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 11:12 AM

Rachel,

Me da always said, "If you want someone to like you, ask them about themselves instead of telling them about yourself."

No matter their age, people tend to listen to people who listen to them. Are you listening when they talk to you? Are you interested in what they have to say? They'll tell you what interests them, and you can use that in your directions.

Rules are another matter -- most folk seem to want to know the reasoning behind any rules, even the very young. Hope you're letting them know the results of following the rules (i.e., "It's important to sit up straight when you play, because this gives you....and you look good, too."), and the consequences of not following the rules ("If you don't, you lose.....and we both look silly to the people at the recital.")

Persevere! (I admire you much for working to help your students, and for being willing to listen to the divers opinions and occasional rants here.)

Sarah

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: Susan from California
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 11:29 AM

Rachel,

I use what can best be discribed as a behavior modification technique. It has 3 components, and sounds complicated, but it works for my 8th grade students. It (or some variation) might work for you.

1. Students have the opportunity to earn 7 points per day, 35 per week. They are rewarded if they earn 15 with free choice seating, chocolate, a few points on a test, etc. depending on the total points earned. They earn points for behavior I want to encourage ie. arriving on time, getting straight to work on their journals, being respectful, not shouting out answers... you get the idea.

2. Mistake points. This is a student favorite. Every time I make a mistake, if a student catches it and proves me wrong--for example I spell peninsula like this "penninsula" I put a mistake point in their classes column. They have to PROVE that the word is wrong,by using a dictionary, or other source. The mistake needs to be one that effects their learning (in other words verbal diarrhea doesn't count, but a mistatement of fact does). The students have to be the one to catch it, if I self correct, BEFORE they catch it, it doesn't count. When they accumulate(SP?) 5 mistakes, the whole class gets a small piece of chocolate. They like the chocolate & the fact that I am willing to admit to mistakes.

3. Strikes. When students are being unruly, and have already lost their point in # 1 for not calling out or whatever, I give them strikes. For every three strikes, they loose a mistake point.

This might not work for everybody, but it has been effective for me! Is this your first year? If it is, you will need to do a fair amount of experimenting. Don't be afraid to chuck everything and start over! Use humor, treat your students with dignity and respect, keep them busy, and try to meet them where they are. Keep your expectations high, they WILL rise to them. Don't get discouraged, try to find a mentor.

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 11:48 AM

Susan, I had to substitute in classrooms where the teacher used a strike system....the kids wouldn't get serious until they had two strikes! But you know how they treated subs!

Rachel, a fun listening exercise that works for all ages AND IS GOOD FOR MUSIC TEACHING ALSO...

Get the students prepared with pencil in hand and paper in front of them. Then give verbal instructions such as 1) draw a circle in the top right hand corner of your paper 2) put an X in the lower left hand corner 3) turn the paper over 4) put your initials in the middle of the page etc. etc. Give the directions ONLY ONCE at about 10 second intervals. By the 10th instruction or so, they are listening like crazy and getting extrememly frustrated because you won't repeat.

Also, there are some exercises for verbal communication which require people to draw something with only verbal cues, nothing visual.

I think we would all be better people if we learned to listen more.

Mary (active music listener who LOVES Paltalk even if she can't understand all those accents)

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 12:02 PM

Rachel, take all the wonderful advice that comes your way here, but let me make a suggestion for a different way to start looking at things. Teaching is both a science and an art. One you can learn form others (the science), but the other depends on what you can do with yourself and NOT your students. Great teachers are artists.

Start now and ask yourself these questions.......Why would anyone want to come to MY classroom? Why will they want to feel I am their buddy, their friend, AND their teacher? Why would they prefer to be in MY classroom and with ME than anywhere else in school?

Treat them as adults, though they are still teens. Treat them with respect, though they may not deserve any or fail to give it to you. Supply them work that they see purpose in and THEN try to tie it back into what you are trying to get across. Lose excessive rigidity and open up your mind to what they want and not what you want to teach. You'll be amazed that under these conditions, they'll arrive at your lesson plan on their own and with a far better attitude.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 01:00 PM

I used to work in the ed sector and one of my greatest pleasures, as a non-teacher, was helping to strengthen teachers for the important work they do. One thing I could do, and did often, was give educators a break from the press of expectations. In fact my office, an unused classroom in a busy school, became the second teachers' lounge. This was popular because in my room they could curl up, laugh, play with toys, and cry if they needed to, or fearlessly use VERY bad language! The usual visit was about 4 minutes long, but highly effective!

If you are working without that kind of support, don't be too hard on yourself. It's hard enough even WITH that kind of support. (E-mail me if you want to correspond and vent from time to time!)

And every teacher I have ever known has been caught up in a system that takes them farther and farther away from their original reasons for becoming a teacher. So ask yourself, "What was my first vision of myself as a teacher?"

If you can reconnect with that, and with the reasons why you put in all the hard work to get into the classroom, you should see this in a new light, and find your own unique, completely accurate solutions. After all, you know more about this than anyone else.

Always work from that first vision. It's part of your best self.

~Susan

[e-mail]

PS, you can always try black leather. Why should the students get the only opportunity to employ shock value? *G*

Subject: RE: Discipline
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Jan 01 - 01:28 PM

Humor helps as the "Teacher Mistakes" points prove. Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself. And maybe, in the middle of directions, add "and the first student to stand and jump on one foot gets a (candy bar, pizza, gold star, whatever)". One or two will hear it. The rest will start to listen.

Never talk down to anyone! Animals, children, elderly people, people with English as a second language, learning disabled, etc. respond best when you speak to them as adults.

Keep directions simple and direct. You probably have their attention initially but minds wander.

Rules? What rules?