Discipline Statement

Haidee Garcia
EDUG 781
Dr. McCarthy/ Professor Jennings
April 28, 2015

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We learn responsibility through involvements with responsible fellow human beings, preferably loving
parents who will love and discipline us properly, who are intelligent enough to allow us freedom to try
out our newly acquired responsibility as soon as we show readiness to do so.
William Glasser
Discipline and classroom management are an essential component of teaching. As an educator it
serves as the foundation that will support and lead to successful learning experiences. Through the
trajectory of this course as well as with student teaching I have learned that the real underlying message
behind discipline, is that it involves more than just a set of regulations and rules. At its core, discipline
is an educative process where teachers along with students lay the development of constructive
attitudes and habits of conduct.
I enter this program with the mind frame that as an educator, in order to have a classroom
function smoothly I have to constantly present my positional as well as coercive power to the students.
Being the teacher gives me a certain entitlement of creating rules, expectations and the consequences
for failing to meet them. This ideology was an accumulation of my personal experiences instilled by
my parents and even teachers growing up. An ideology so ingrained in me that it was reflected on how
I answered the Teacher Personality Survey at the beginning of the course, to see which of the face
philosophies I identify with the most. As it turns out my answers reflected that I associated the most
with the Rules and Consequences face. In which students rely on the teacher to assertively state the
rules and demands of the classroom. Although, establishing rules and expectations with clarity is
essential in classroom management. There is more to discipline than the need to fully exert control
and establish oneself as the authority and powerful figure. Learning about all the different theories and
strategies to utilize in the classroom gives me the opportunity to reflect on what my future classroom
would look like. After much delegating I have come to see the error in maintaining this mentality. I am
less inclined to show my authoritative power because I now believe that as an educator I want students
to not just respect me but to value, trust and believe in my potential as an educator to deliver rich and

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meaningful instruction. To accomplish this I want to have a naturally evolving classroom management
plan in which emphasis is placed on finding what the needs of the students are and what can be done to
meet those needs. It is for this reason, my classroom and discipline philosophy heavily derives from
Glasser's Choice Therapy.
Throughout my observations and with student teaching I have seen an eclectic mix of different
discipline and classroom management styles. Ranging from heavy use of teacher control and the overly
emphasized use of rewards and punishments as depicted in the behavior modification system. In which
a token is used for all forms of behaviors. I once saw in my first placement the cooperative teachers
using tokens to reward students who were able gets to their seats the fastest. To the more emotionally
supportive model of Rogerian Theory. All of which I feel do not fully capture the long withstanding
message that is transmitted to students when you empower them to be autonomous and self-correcting.
Glasser's Reality Therapy states that we are all internally motivated by everything we do (Wolfgang,
1999). By utilizing this philosophy in my classroom I am ensuring that I create a warm, cohesive and
responsive learning environment. Where students are encouraged to be fully aware of their place and
role in the classroom. Highlighting the students ability to become thinkers, problem solvers and
assume personal responsibility as a result of their behavior. During student teaching, my cooperating
teacher has clearly outlined what the rules and expectations are in the classroom. She is consistent in
her discipline and her classroom is devoid of any forms of rewards, token, or prizes. Being so used to
classes that use behavior charts, rewards and prizes, I found it very odd that she did not have a rewards
system in place. I realize the reasoning behind this technique as she is clearly setting the expectations
that students do not need the reinforcement to let them know when they are behaving appropriately.
Research has indicated that having students become aware that they can make choices about
their learning, rules of the classroom and the expectations and consequences of their behavior will have
an impact in their learning, self-esteem, confidence and overall academic achievement (Kianipour &
Hoseini, 2012). I believe that learning is a lifelong experience. As students progress through their

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schools years and eventually venture of into the real world they would have to rely less on the
attainment of physical rewards or extrinsic motivators as indicators when they have done something
correctly and more on their intrinsic motivation to learn for the joy of learning (Glasser, 1988).
Creating a classroom environment in which learning is not hinder by discipline behaviors is a
true accomplishment that takes practice, determination, consistency and reflection. As educators we
have to constantly evolve and ascertain that we are guiding and fulfilling all students needs. There is
nothing more satisfying in this career field than knowing that you are helping another individual come
to a realization of their unique and natural talent and this starts by believing that they have choices,
valued opinions and lot more to offer to the classroom environment.
I did my field work observation at the elementary school, P.S. 86 The Kingsbridge Heights
School. In P.S. 86 I did daily one hour observations in a 5th grade Bilingual Special Education selfcontained classroom composed of 12 students, one teacher and one paraprofessional. The fieldwork
experience provided me the opportunities to see first-hand what it would be like to be a fifth grade
Bilingual Special Education teacher. It was helpful to see the behavior management techniques Ms. O
implemented in the classroom. Although, the majority of her students are well behave one student who
presents with ADHD and another student with a learning disability have on certain occasions been
impulsive in nature. They disrupt the learning of their classmates and instruction of the teacher by
calling out without raising their hands or giving inappropriate comments, usually in Spanish. On one
occasion one of the students who has a learning disability commented on how boring the game they
were playing as they prepared for the Math State test was. Instead of punishing the student or asking
the student why he is behaving in this manner, which usually ends with an excuse of some sort, the
teacher calmly asked the student what it is that he is doing followed with a question on whether this
behavior is helping him or the class. I think this form of questioning is essential for students to begin to
internalize why they are behaving in such a manner and to realize what effect the behavior is having on
the classroom environment. The teacher does an excellent job at consistently employing fairness and

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firmness and showing the students how they can self-monitor their own classroom behavior. The
teacher has implemented an individually name behavior pocket that consists of each student having a
red, yellow and green card. Although this particular strategy does not fall under Glassers Reality
Therapy and more of an Assertive Discipline approach it does serve as a guide for students to correct
their behavior. The teacher uses the cards for instance the yellow card to help remind students to take a
moment and reflect on their actions while the red card is a warning that they have not made wise
choices and failure to remedy their behavior will result in a consequence like calling the students home.
When providing students the opportunity to correct their behavior or to think what they could do better
she often refers to the students as Sir or Ma'am in English or in Spanish. I believe this emphasizes
the level of maturity she expects from them and she models the behavior so they can acquire the habit,
which stresses the importance of having students behave the same way as their teachers does, not just
what they say. I implemented this technique recently when covering two prep- periods, one was a 6th
grade self-contained classroom and the other was a 5th grade bilingual classroom. At first they looked at
me with shock as I referred to them in this manner but they responded very well and I did not encounter
any behavior problems as I establish from the beginning that I believe them to be mature individuals
who know how to behave and self-monitor their own behavior. I now wonder how my 2nd grade
students react towards being referred in this manner and I wonder if I will acquire the same positive
response as from the older students.
As an educator we have the capacity of establishing working teacher-student relationships that
build on the premise that we can trust and recognizes a students potential to reflect, evaluate their
choices and change their actions for the improvement of the classroom environment. I believe in this
democratic approach that encourages students to personally develop their self-awareness as responsible
individuals with a desire and a focus to become lifelong learners.

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References

Glasser, W. (1988). Choice theory in the classroom. New York: HarperCollins.

Kianipour, O., & Hoseini, B. (2012). Effectiveness of training the choice theory of Glasser to teachers
on improvement of students' academic qualification. Journal of Educational and Instructional
Studies in the World, 2(2), 117-123. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from
http://www.wjeis.org/FileUpload/ds217232/File/15.kianipour.pdf

Wolfgang, C. (1999). Solving discipline problems: Strategies for classroom teachers (4th ed., pp. 1338). Boston, MA: John Wiley & Sons.