Proactive Discipline

Whenever I'm asked to lead workshops (and I'll be out again this weekend), discipline is the most common concern among volunteer teachers. They want to maintain control in their classroom and not have to deal with out-of-control students.

Winning the Contest
My take is that if the teacher has become engaged in a discipline contest with any student, he or she has already lost a lot of ground. It's not that I don't want to help that teacher, but how much better it would be to avoid the contest in the first place. The volunteer teacher has very few options in dealing with unruly students, almost no real power in the situation. The child who says "You can't make me!" is all too often absolutely correct. Let's try not to go there.

Avoiding the Contest
The keys to avoiding discipline contests are almost always found in the teacher's preparation.

• The teacher has thought through the lesson and the students who would be in class.
• She has planned to be present in the classroom before the first student arrives.
• She has removed or covered distracting elements in the classroom and provided constructive options for pre-session.
• He has planned to engage the students' interest immediately and guide interactions between students into positive activity (rather than allowing mischief that develops to fill a vacuum).
• She understands how she wants the lesson to progress and can move on if an activity fails to keep the students engaged.
• He is able to teach knowledgeably and in a manner that engages the students and keeps their interest.
• He is able to follow a tangent briefly when it benefits the students and reconnect seamlessly with the lesson.
• She has chosen ahead of time to omit or adapt activities that will not engage the students.

Another aspect of preparation will be that the congregation has prepared a procedure for dealing with an unruly or out-of-control child and that the teacher knows how he or she will handle those situations. (Some key points, in my opinion, might include not touching an out-of-control child unless necessary to protect the child or others, but maybe that's another blog.)

It's Not All about Teacher Preparation
But so much of classroom control depends on preparation. If the teacher is thoroughly prepared, the chances of a contest-free session are greatly increased.

Does this "proactive discipline" strike you as realistic?

How do you avoid, or deal with, discipline issues?

Thanks for teaching God's children His Word!