How can I handle students who won’t take no for an answer?
QUESTION:
I teach a class of remediation seniors who have not passed the high school exit exam. They are very difficult to control. Nothing fazes them. There are two or three who simply do not take no for an answer. They ask to go to the bathroom, get a drink, make a phone call. I say [...]
Does it matter what kind of home a child is from?
QUESTION:
Do you think it makes any difference to the success of the DWS program what kind of home the child is from, or what methods the rest of the faculty uses for discipline?
DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE:
Re: Home Life
Focus on the behavior––not the “why” for the behavior. Regardless of the “why,” everyone still has the freedom [...]
How can procedures be used when students misbehave?
QUESTION:
I’m trying to get a handle on this whole concept of guided choices and procedures. I guess I don’t really understand what a procedure is or how you would use a procedure when a student is misbehaving. Can you give me an example?
DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE:
Teaching procedures is teaching expectations.
Here is an example:
Rather than [...]
I need help to establish procedures in the computer lab.
QUESTION:
I am a Computer specialist working with over 500 students a week. I see most students only once a week for 45 minutes at a time. I’d like to try using Discipline without Stress. From the Teaching Model I know I should begin by establishing classroom management procedures. Can you help me with this?
RESPONSE:
[...]
Difficulties on the first day of school
QUESTION:
I have a first grade girl who, no matter how many times she is asked about what level she is on and how she can change to Level C/D, will not change her behavior. At what point would you give a think sheet? It was a VERY long first day of school!
RESPONSE:
During the first [...]
First posted on the Teachers.net Discipline Chatboard. Permission granted from the author to re-post here:
6th and 7th graders are very impulsive creatures — they have been taught to be impulsive by adults. Don’t believe it? Just go to a teacher training session and observe how the teachers behave while the speakers are presenting! As a [...]
Using DWS in Preschool with Students Who Have Special Needs
Posted by Teri Gibson, a member of the Discipline without Stress mailring.
I have just begun using DWS this year with my 4 yr. old special needs preschool classes. I absolutely love it. No, my class is not perfect. No, DWS does not solve all behavior problems. What it does is this: For the first time, [...]
An example of developing procedures proactively to avoid problems.
The more I use the Discipline without Stress approach, the more I appreciate that Step One of the Teaching Model is key to the whole plan.
We’ve just started a series of swimming lessons at our local Community Center for all the primary students in our school. This year I decided to be more proactive [...]
The most effective procedures are those that are carefully planned and explicitly taught.
Recently, the following post was shared on the Kinderkorner mailring by Marybeth Quig-Hartman, who generously allowed me to reprint it here. Note the amount of “teacher thinking” that Marybeth puts into developing her routines and the amount of class time she devotes to the teaching of procedures in the beginning of the school year.
Such diligence [...]
Can I use DWS out on yard duty?
QUESTION:
What happens at recess, when as a teacher doing yard duty, most of your school does not know the DwStress levels? Do you explain it to them?
RESPONSE:
Good question!
Firstly, in any teaching situation, it’s simply good practice to employ the three PRINCIPLES of Discipline without Stress: Positivity, Choice and Reflection.
When out on [...]
