I don’t have a formal, structured discipline plan for my classroom.  I have a section about it in my back to school night handout, which basically says that the expectation is that we are respectful to each other in the classroom.   Students (and adults) who have difficulty with maintaining respectful behavior are dealt with on an individual basis.  I will talk to each person, individually, and we can work out together how a situation is to be handled.  There are no cards to flip, no chart with stars, no rocks in a jar – there is nothing that publically states an individual’s consequences. 

There are consequences if people get out of hand.  I have been known to suspend students from class because they are disruptive to others.  If the class is using class time to socialize, I take away recess time so we can make up the work that we are missing when they are off task (we don’t just sit with our heads down – it is time we use to get work done).   

I also give ‘table points’.   I collect them on a seating chart, and use it as a way of reinforcing appropriate, quiet working.  While the students are working, I will say “thank you, Yellow Table” and that means they get a ‘point’.   Points are not taken away.   The points also don’t mean anything.   They are not redeemed for anything, nor do I keep track of them beyond the seating chart they are recorded on, which gets occassionally recycled. 

I just can’t reward students for doing what they are supposed to be doing.  We have ‘caught being good’ slips at our school, which are handed out school-wide when students show exemplary behavior.  I tend to hand these out at assemblies or fire drills, which are inherently boring and is really asking a lot of a 10 year old to sit or stand still and quiet for the time required.   I tend to hand out more the more boring I find the event.  I, though, am not rewarding students for expected behavior.  I am not handing out a prize for doing what you are supposed to do to begin with.

 Last year, I had a great difficulty with a few students who either could not or would not be respectful in class.  There were a couple who were inappropriately placed in my classroom and needed more support than they could receive in a regular education setting.  There were a few others that just needed more support at home, or were dealing with life issues outside the classroom that made behaving respectfully difficult for them.   Last year tested my every discipline and management tool.  Some tools were successful, many were not.  

 This year, our classroom is much more respectful.  There are a few students who have been pushing the limits, but overall, they are good kids and respectful of one another.  They come to each other’s defense, and they help one another.   But still, they are ten, and there are issues.   And I am not dealing with them well.

 I find myself being too negative and feeling negative.  I take away recess, and then take away more recess, when they talk.  I am not, however, dealing with the issue of WHY they are talking.  There are really only 4 or 5 of the 30 students who are talkative, and I am clearly not meeting their needs.  I keep pulling out my Tribes book.  We are a Tribes school, so we live by the Tribes Agreements and incorporate Tribes activities throughout the day.   I am not finding anything that makes me turn a positive corner with this group.

 I bought a new book today, and having Amazon ship it second-day air, so I will have it Wednesday.  I am hoping it inspires me, because I am not feeling inspired.  I know nothing about the author, but it does sound promising.   No stress, no rewards, no punishment.  Sounds good.  I will let you know how it goes.