“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment”
Discipline plays an essential role in keeping up a healthy social life. A disciplined life helps to eliminate hindrances for growth and other confusions that stand in the way of success.
Since schools play an important part in character development and shaping behavior, discipline in school is pivotal and of paramount importance.
Now, what is ‘discipline in school’? Every school will have a set of norms and codes of conduct. School discipline is an arrangement of these specific implicit rules, conduct, and behavior for keeping the students in check and making them efficient individuals.
In order to make the teaching-learning process effective and useful, the classroom environment must be great and ideal. Discipline helps to create a healthy classroom and a healthy classroom ensures discipline. It works both ways.
Today, we will be talking about 10 ways to improve discipline in school and how to maintain discipline in school. Discipline in schools for students can be tricky to tackle but with these ten tips, you can control it to an extent. Without further ado, let's take a look at how to improve discipline in school.
Discipline is what keeps a child motivated to work for a balanced life, indulging in both academic and recreational activities. In schools, however, discipline is strictly adhered to for creating an ideal learning environment for all; and ensuring that the teaching-learning process is effective without unnecessary disruptions. It helps maintain order and allows students to focus on their studies. No matter how much they dislike discipline in school actions, later in life students do thank their teachers for disciplining them!
Ten ways to Improve Discipline in School
1. Plan and Organize
Ensure that there is a routine and a rhythm in the classroom. This way, the students know what to expect from the class and what is expected out of them.
On the off chance that there is no legitimate planning and proper organization in your classroom, kids will feel exhausted and would begin to act mischievously.
You will see that classroom management is easy and better when the lessons are appropriately planned when you have everything that you need for the class beforehand, and. In addition to this, while conducting classes, always have a backup plan, consider things that can go wrong, and have a plan B in place to make sense of the framework that you had in mind.
2. Resolve issues from the beginning
It is ideal to manage issues that spring up before they become too enormous to even consider handling. You can address every single little issue occurring in the classroom.
This might be daunting in the beginning but, students need to feel that they are valued and listened to, otherwise, they will cook up more mischiefs to attract attention. Handle problems tactfully. A tiny slip-up in discipline issues can turn into a huge problem on the shoulder later on.
3. Establish proper procedures
The school should have a decent control procedure to keep the students in check. A proper code of conduct, rules, and regulations must be followed.
Here, one thing that schools should keep in mind is to strike the right balance. You don’t have to be too strict because there’s a chance of students becoming rebellious and that’s the last thing that you need.
Adopt the method of controlled freedom both in classrooms and in the school altogether.
4. Explain the rules
Next to establishing the right procedures, the most important thing is to communicate the procedure to your students. They must know what is expected of them so that they can do it accordingly.
Conduct orientation classes, explain the rules and regulations, and how you expect them to behave within the classroom, within the school, and as a responsible adult. Do not patronize the students.
5. Practice what you preach
The teachers, staff, management, and everyone within the school must practice the code of conduct that has been established by the school.
As mentioned before, discipline in school can be tricky. Students are vulnerable and are at an age where they are just beginning to learn what is right and wrong.
They look up to their teachers and elders. So, if there is a rule that says no phones in the classroom, the teachers should also refrain from taking phones to the classroom.
Now that classes have moved online, you cannot say no to phones but you can say no to phone calls and texting and the teacher should also adhere to this.
6. Make your classes interactive
When you make your classes interactive, student engagement is better and they have less time to be mischievous.
Make your classes interesting and engaging by including games, quizzes, animations, visual aids, and likewise.
While teaching online, it is easier to incorporate animated videos and games with numerous online teaching tools available.
7. Establish a connection with your students
When you create a good rapport with your students, they will be more disciplined and understanding.
Mutual respect will help in bringing about harmony in your classroom. We have talked about classroom management in detail in one of our previous blogs, if you have not read it yet, read it here.
8. Reward good behavior
When you reward good behavior in the classroom, you are encouraging other students to behave better.
They would put in an effort to become a better student and to be disciplined. You can create a chart, reward them with stars, and in higher classes, you can change the rewards accordingly.
9. Be fair
As a teacher, you should not be prejudiced or biased, you have to be fair. It is okay to have favorites but do not be evident about it.
You should not involve favoritism while grading papers and assignments. Be fair and ensure your students that efforts and growth matters and failures are just a stepping stone to success.
10. Be optimistic
Having a positive attitude can help with discipline in school. The students must not feel hostile in the classroom.
They must feel at ease and that they have room for expressing themselves. Being a positive teacher will help you to achieve this in the classroom. There are different types of disciplines in schools, you should focus on being fair and bringing up a generation that understands values.
Types of Discipline in School
The three main types of discipline are:
1. Preventative Discipline
As mentioned above, teachers have to explain their expectations and set ground rules to ensure discipline. Measures taken in prior to prevent any unacceptable behavior is called preventative discipline.
2. Supportive Discipline
It is possible that the preventive measures do not work as perfectly as expected and things may go wrong. At this point, the teachers may give warnings and show the students the right way of doing things. This is called supportive discipline.
3. Corrective discipline
This comes after supportive discipline. When a student has failed to show any improvement despite numerous efforts at supportive discipline, corrective disciplinary actions come into play. Punishments such as suspension, and likewise fall under corrective discipline.
What are the ways to improve Discipline in School?
Teachers can use these easy tips to effectively promote classroom discipline, online or offline;
- Plan and Organize: Take advice from the students and plan a routine for the classroom to set expectations and keep them engaged.
- Resolve Issues Early: Address and resolve issues as they arise to prevent them from escalating into more significant problems.
- Establish Proper Procedures: Maintain a balance between strictness and flexibility in implementing school rules and regulations.
- Explain the Rules: Communicate the school's rules and expectations to students through orientation classes and clear communication.
- Practice What You Preach: Ensure that teachers, staff, and management also adhere to the established code of conduct.
- Make Classes Interactive: Engage students through interactive teaching methods, games, quizzes, and visual aids.
- Establish a Connection: Build rapport with students to create a positive and respectful classroom atmosphere.
- Reward Good Behavior: Encourage good behaviour by rewarding students for their positive actions.
- Be Fair: Avoid favouritism and treat all students equally, emphasizing effort and growth.
- Be Optimistic: Maintain a positive attitude to create a non-hostile environment where students feel comfortable expressing themselves.
How many types of discipline are there?
There are three main types of discipline in school:
- Preventative Discipline: Setting ground rules and expectations to guide their behaviour in a classroom.
- Supportive Discipline: Giving warnings and guidance to students when preventive measures are not enough to get them back on track following classroom discipline.
- Corrective Discipline: In short, punishing with corrective actions, could be as severe as a suspension, when a student fails to improve despite supportive discipline.
Most importantly, educators themselves must be role models, portraying how a disciplined individual looks- and enjoys it!
Conclusion
We have discussed 10 ways to improve discipline in school. When we talk about how to maintain discipline in school, it is important to understand that it is a two-way road.
You have to be a role model for the students so that they can pick up the good things from you. Exemplary teachers observe their students and the classroom and adapt tips and strategies to ensure that they implement best practices that work in their classrooms.
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