Discipline Answers

QUESTION: I love the question suggestions in the DWS book, but like the author said, it’s a skill that takes practice. I usually need a lot of practice and that means I’ll need the questions nearby to refer to often. I just don’t understand how teachers remember everything! RESPONSE: The questions in Dr. Marshall’s book [...]

QUESTION: Sometimes I have trouble choosing the right words.  I usually always ask a question though.  For example I might ask,  “Why are you talking during this lesson?“ or “Why are you choosing to play with your pencil instead of listening?” DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE: Never ask “Why?”  It is accusatory. And besides people often do [...]

One day last February we learned that a new boy would be joining our grade one class.  In an effort to be proactive, my teaching partner, Darlene, planned a class meeting the day before he arrived.  She wanted to encourage the students to welcome the new child and she also hoped to avoid a situation [...]

Featured this week on TED.com is a rare 4 minute video clip taken from a 1972 lecture by Victor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning. You may remember that in the early pages of the DWS book, Dr. Marshall mentions Victor Frankl.  Dr. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, dramatically demonstrated through his own actions and [...]

Sherry, a fabulous grade six teacher at my school, mentioned to me one day that when she sees a child operating on Level B in her classroom, she uses the opportunity to do some role-playing.  After she has asked the student to assess the level of their own behavior (and they can accurately assess it [...]

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 want to make an banner for my room.  Do you have a good quote that would encourage students to make good choices? DR. MARSHALL’S RESPONSE: Here’s one I used in my classes: Responsibility finds a way. Irresponsibility finds excuses.  

QUESTION: Today was the first day of school and I had quite a hard time with my first graders. I’m trying not to give consequences but my students did not respond very well when I asked them to identify their levels.  I also had a hard time coming up with questions to ask them when they [...]

In our second year of working with DWS, my teaching partner and I had a student with special needs.  Chronologically he was old enough to be in grade three but emotionally and cognitively grade one was a much better placement for him.  At that time I wrote about one experience with this boy that taught [...]

Posted by J.E., a member of the Discipline without Stress mailring. Here is my latest success: Last Friday, three third graders left their homeroom in route to my class (science) and on the way, chose to yell and scream and play an impromptu game of tag. (At my school, we don’t walk the kids from [...]