Discipline Answers

QUESTION: Do you feel I can implement this successfully with 5th graders or is it geared more to the lower grades? RESPONSE: DWS is very effective with grade fives! Dr. Marshall first developed this approach for middle and high school students. It’s since been adapted for use with younger students in intermediate and primary grades––although [...]

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 [...]

QUESTION: I want to implement DWS in my classroom this year. My concern is the fact that I’m required to send home weekly behavior reports rating behavior, completed work, homework etc.  Do weekly reports match this approach? RESPONSE: DWS is based on promoting internal assessments––students reflecting on their own behavior. Typically, schools that use daily/weekly [...]

QUESTION: I have a problem.  My entire school district has been requested to update our classroom discipline plans for review by the new superintendent before the end of August.  My principal knows how I feel about the punitive discipline approach used across our district.  Last year he allowed me leeway––I didn’t have to post rules, [...]

QUESTION: I’ve  just ordered Dr. Marshall’s book.  I have read mixed reviews online but mostly everyone says positive things about DWS. RESPONSE: This is just a guess, but I would say that those who who feel they didn’t have much success with the DWS approach may have misunderstood the goal of the program or may [...]

QUESTION: What do you do if you have a problem with a child on the second day of school, before you’ve introduced the Hierarchy levels? RESPONSE: Don’t forget that Step One of the Teaching Model is Classroom Management. By proactively teaching specific procedures for everything you want your students to do, you will be able [...]

QUESTION: I am very new to the DWS mailring. I’ll be a 2nd year teacher this coming school year and will be implementing this system in my classroom. I did have a concern about grades. Would you please review Dr. Marshall’s views on grades and how they are related to competition? If he discourages grades, [...]

QUESTION: Does anyone know if DWS is ever implemented in high school? I teach high school Leadership classes and I think high schoolers need these things even more immediately than little ones. The real world is going to require self-discipline of them, real soon! Raising their responsibility is exactly what high school kids need. Most [...]

QUESTION: I have often been tempted to order the Discipline without Stress book. What has held me back is my school’s requirement that we use the same discipline plan throughout the department (in my case, 4th through 6th grades.). The department has the same rules: (1) Be respectful (2) Be obedient (3) Be honest (4) [...]

QUESTION: I really like the idea of sending home a daily behavior report to parents. Now that I am using DISCIPLINE without STRESS, I am thinking that I would like to have my students give themselves a discipline mark at the end of each day. They could mark themselves as having operated on Level A, [...]