ENFORCING RULES IN THE

CLASSROOM

From Setting Limits in the Classroom Chapters 5 & 6

 SPOKEN RULES AND RULES IN PRACTICE

• When it comes to discipline, our words should match our actions

• Students learn two sets of rules: spoken rules and rules in practice

• If words don’t match actions, children will ignore rules

 INEFFECTIVE METHODS OF ENFORCING
RULES

• Placing students’ names under a frown or smiley face on the board

• Making students write down sentences
• Asking parents to spend a day in class with their child

• “Isn’t it time we started teaching our rules the way students really
learn?” (p. 87)
 CHILDREN’S TEMPERAMENT TYPES

• 65% of children fit into one of the following 3 temperament types

• Easy or flexible (40%)
• Difficult or feisty (15%)
• Cautious or slow-to-warm-up (10%)

• Remaining 35% are combination of the 3 types P. 89

INEFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE APPROACHES
 “THE PERMISSIVE APPROACH
(RESPECTFUL BUT NOT FIRM)”

• Depend on words but hesitant to follow through with actions that are
effective
• Examples:
• Allowing students to speak without raising their hand quietly
• Letting students create the rules of the classroom
• Allowing students to teach each other with disrespect
• Frequently giving explanations without consequences
• Raising your voice to be heard over loud students
 “THE PUNITIVE APPROACH (FIRM BUT
NOT RESPECTFUL)”

• Usually stops behavior but doesn’t teach correct principles to students

• Students comply due to fear and not respect
• Examples:
• Telling students to stand in a corner
• Making students write sentences multiple times (ex: I will not…)
• Humiliating students in front of their peers
• Asking parents to give consequences to students at home for misbehavior in
the classroom
 “THE MIXED APPROACH (NEITHER FIRM
NOR RESPECTFUL)”

• Involves lots of flip-flopping between punishing and being easygoing

• Examples:
• Ignoring misbehavior for a few days and then suddenly enforcing the rule
• Allowing some students to hand in late work and not others
• Listing classroom rules and then tolerating them when those rules are
broken by students
• Punishing some students and not other
 EFFECTIVE METHOD

• “The Democratic Approach (Firm and Respectful)”

• “The effective teachers I observed…maintained a respectful attitude,
held their ground firmly, stated their rules and expectations clearly,
and followed through with instructive consequences when students
chose not to cooperate. These teachers were solidly in control of
themselves and their classrooms. They made classroom management
look easy” (p. 128).
 REFLECTION

• What is your discipline approach?

• How can you modify your approach to become a

more effective teacher?