Discipline Answers

QUESTION: I teach small groups in a reading pull-out program. I have students for 30-45 minutes every day. Do you think I could implement the Discipline without Stress approach effectively in my small group setting? RESPONSE: It is certainly possible to use the DWS approach in a small-group teaching situation. DWS is an effective tool [...]

QUESTION: I teach a 10th grade remedial math class.  My problem is this:  Very few of the students are doing their home and class assignments.  I am trying to get them to realize how it’s affecting their grade, however I noticed that whenever I give them a progress report they seem to feel that I [...]

QUESTION: I am currently in a situation where I am the permanent teacher, taking the place of another teacher. I have been in this position for about 3 weeks now, and I have noticed that many students arrive late every day. Not just one or two but 10-15 students are arriving late to my class! [...]

QUESTION: I don’t want to use stickers to motivate my primary students to print more neatly.  Any suggestions to encourage them to take more care with their school work? RESPONSE: Here are some things that my teaching partner and I do in order to help build neat work habits over time: 1.  We talk a [...]

This week I had a neat experience while teaching a grade 7 student at my newest job at the middle school. I just thought I’d share. For those who don’t know me, I have three teaching positions, all of which are shared with the same partner. Darlene and I share a grade 1 classroom, each [...]

QUESTION: I am a high school Social Studies teacher. As a teacher of a content area, I don’t penalize my students for spelling errors on their assignments as an English teacher would, but at the same time, I don’t want to give them the impression that spelling isn’t important. I’m not having much success. Once [...]

QUESTION: I work with very low math students. 
Part of my plan for next year is to convince them that
 things can be different. I want to convince them that they can find
 success and not be so frustrated! The worst behavior cases seem
 to be the kids that have given up.
 But then I [...]

QUESTION: I’ve just taken over in a classroom where the kids are used to freely talking. Today I kept them in from break because they were talking so much that we couldn’t get the work done. This made them really mad at me!  In this discipline system, how do I communicate to the students that [...]

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 am still waiting for my Discipline without Stress book to arrive, but this morning I introduced the system to my class anyway. Even though it’s almost the end of the year, I have such big behavior problems that I decided I had nothing to lose and everything to gain! However, I must have [...]