Discipline Model #3

Discipline Journal #1
SHED Cohort—Fall 2008

NAME: Laura Michelle Weed Instructor: Dr. Sharon Johnson
I. Data Collection: On additional page(s) (to be attached), document at least 10 discipline situations encountered in your classroom. Journal each incident and include:

Incident #1
A. 11/7, 2:40

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: I heard talking during the quiz. I said, “No talking.” I heard it again and look up to see Jane looking right at me. I went over and stood next to Jane. Talking stopped.

D. Consequences:
Generally my policy on talking during a test/quiz is a zero and a phone call home. Because I could not prove who was talking though, I moved myself to the area that I thought the talking was coming from and the talking stopped.

E. Reflection:
Once the quiz was over, I reviewed my policy on cheating. This reminded the students of where I stand on cheating. The student understood that I could have caught her done something but that I let it slide. The next quiz was no problem.

Incident #2
A. 11/7, 12:44

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: John is tardy everyday. I watched him leave the cafeteria and realized that he stopped and talked to Jane.

D. Consequences:
I spoke with Jane and asked her for help. I told her that John had been late for several days in a row and that I needed her help. I told her that I needed her to not spend time talking to John after lunch because it was getting him in trouble. The next day, John was not late. Following the Cooperative Discipline Model, I made a huge deal about the fact that he was not late and continued for the next few days. He has not been late since.

E. Reflection:
I think the relationship with John and Jane has both improved. Jane knows that I’m looking out for her friend and John now knows that I’m here to help.

Incident #3
A. 11/10, 10:12

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: John was disrupting the class. I told him to move seats. He continued.

What were the precipitating factors and what (if anything) could have prevented the incident? John is an Aide in a classroom full of students instead of during my conference period. I generally get my other students started before I get him started. Because he didn’t have anything to do, he was interrupting the other students.

D. Consequences:
I found something for John to do on the other side of the room. I spoke with John after class and reminded him that he is in the class to help me not to be a hindrance to the other students. I also sent him to help another teacher for the next few days.

E. Reflection:
Initially, I allowed John to pick whether he wanted to be an aide during my conference or during the class period he was currently enrolled. He chose the class period, but I think now he is wishing he hadn’t chosen to be an aide because despite the work, he would be able to work with his friends. By finding him something to do in another class, he was able to meet the compromise of wanting to be helpful which is why he signed up to be an aide and wanting to talk to his friends.

Incident #4
A. 11/10, 10:58

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: Students were talking. I said, “3…2…1.” The students continued to talk.

D. Consequences:
According to the Cooperative Discipline Model, I began to “talk to the wall”. I said, “They have a project to do today don’t they? Oh yeah, they do! Really??? It’s worth twenty percent of their grade? Wow! That’s a lot! They really need to stop talking so that they can get the directions!” And the students stopped talking.

E. Reflection:
This class is a VERY talkative class. The Cooperative Discipline Model gave me an option so that I did not lose my temper and still gave the students information. When you don’t lose your temper, it always affects the relationship positively.

Incident #5
A. 11/10, 11:23

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: John was refusing to do his warm up. Instead, he was walking around, talking to other students, and interrupting what they were doing. I asked John to sit and get to work which he did, but he also continued to interrupt the other students.

D. Consequences:
According to the Cooperative Discipline Model, I removed the audience. I asked him to go out in the hall and I would join him in a second. Once I got the class started on the warm up, I went outside and spoke with John. I told him that I was going to make a phone call that day and he was going to determine what type of phone call that it was going to be.

E. Reflection:
Once I made the positive phone call home, the student has been very receptive and done what I ask him to do. I think I will try this more often.

Incident #6
A. 11/11, 11:17

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: John was out of his seat. I told him to sit down. He did and when I looked up again, he was out of his seat.

D. Consequences:
I told John that he could not be more than one arm’s length away from his table. I had to give him a detention in order to practice this behavior, but since then, all I have to say is “one arm” and he knows what I mean.

E. Reflection:
The student knows that I’m willing to work with him but that I will only work so far. He still tries to push the boundaries, but he knows that there is an end to my patience.

Incident #7
A. 11/11, 12:54

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: In the next class period, John was up out of his seat while the students were working on their project.

D. Consequences:
Following the Cooperative Discipline Model, I did the unexpected. John had not caused an issue by walking around, but I told him that he could stay standing as long as he was no more than one arm from the table. He was shocked! He told me that most teachers told him to sit down but that he needed to stand up. He said that he appreciated me letting him stay standing.

E. Reflection:
John was really appreciative that I recognized that he was a kinesthetic learner and that he needed to be up and moving. I just put limitations on his movement which he was fine with.

Incident #8
A. 11/12, 2:39

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: John began making inappropriate comments to another student based on a conversation they were having. The class heard him and began to laugh. I asked him to go outside and wait for me.

D. Consequences:
Using the Cooperative Discipline Model, I removed the student from his audience to discuss the comments that he made. We decided that the appropriate consequence was a detention to practice “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

E. Reflection:
I told John what could have happened to him for the comments that he had made: a ticket and an office referral. I told him however that I thought he had had a momentary lapse of judgment and that if that was what he wanted I could do it. Obviously, he was not okay with the office referral but he decided a detention was fair. By including him in the decision making process, he was able to think through what he had done and decide what a fair consequence really was. This allowed him to be responsible for the behavior and the consequence.

Incident #9
A. 11/13, 8:18

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: John was leaning back in his chair again. I told him, “Six legs on the floor.” Minutes later he was leaning back again.

D. Consequences:
Because this was a repeat offense, I gave John a detention. In detention, he had to practice walking into the classroom and sitting in his chair correctly.

E. Reflection:
I don’t know how much this helped the relationship, as much as John now thinks when he sits down and begins to lean back in his chair.

Incident #10
A. 11/18, 2:20

B. 8th grade, PFD

C. Description of the incident: John failed all of his classes again for the second six weeks. I called and spoke with his mother and she said there was a lot going on at home. She did not think that this was the reason he was failing and she did not know what else to do but to let him fail.

D. Consequences:
The student got in trouble and went to ISS again, so I went and spoke with the ISS teacher. She said that he was refusing to work and he was about to get in trouble for insubordination. I went back to ISS and asked how he was doing. He still had not done any work, so I got my laptop and went in and watched him work. The next day I went in the room and asked if he needed me to hold his hand. He said, “No.” I checked back later and he had gone to the office because he had not gotten anything done. I once again grabbed my laptop and headed to the office to watch him work. He got some of it done. The next day I went back and checked with the ISS teacher. He had gotten his work done and I told him I was proud of him.

E. Reflection:
I told John that he was not going to fail on my watch. He thought these were just words, since everyone else had given up on him. I showed him that I meant what I said with my actions. I don’t know if he will pass but now he is working much harder for me.


II. Model to implement in your class: Cooperative Discipline

A. Summary of model: This model was created on the premise that all behaviors have a purpose. Once the intention of the behavior is determined, specific strategies are employed in order to reach the student.

B. Description of incident: Students continually talk when I am talking.

C. Steps: First I tried my normal technique of getting my students quiet. This did not work, so I did the unexpected and employed my version of the technique of “talking to the wall”. I began to talk to myself, all the while providing information to the students, like they would have homework if they didn’t get done in class or how much of their grade the assignment would be worth. No matter what class I did this technique with, it never failed to work.

D. Reflection:
What effects did the model have on your student(s)? I think this had a positive effect on my students because I was able to keep my temper.

What changes did you note once you implemented the model? Did the implementation have any impact on the overall classroom/learning? I don’t know that this really changed much because I realized I was already doing a lot of these techniques I just didn’t know they were a discipline model. Where I wasn’t following the model exactly, I just tweaked what I was doing and matched it up with the model making some of my less effective more techniques, more effective.