School Discipline
Please share your suggestions for improving school discipline. Take the ideas to your administrators for their review and feedback.
Consistency is of key importance and having full support from administration makes classroom management more effective. Also, first impressions go a long way and making sure that students know what to expect and what is expected of them from day one is important in order to establish discipline. Overall, following the Guide approach seems to be the most effective way to maintain discipline.
Angelia,
I agree, it's the soft-touch cycle that starts with admissions, then the first class, second class, etc. Bottom line is that no one wants to be hit for "lack of retention" due to a drop for whatever reason (habitually late, excessive cell phone usage, pants sagging, shirt not tucked in, profanity, and on and on..) so the problem gets fast-forwarded to the next instructor while management sits quietly in their offices behind computer screens.
We have a dress code as while, one of the hardest for students is not wearing hoodies type jackets.
I have found that a rule of no food in the computer labs should be made and enforced however the other instructors don't seem to want to follow it and I'm not sure how to have that happen.
Positive School discipline helps to keep students in school. Counsel students with discipline issues. Make them aware of the conflicting situation and have the problem student commit to you in writing with an improvement solution.
As a newer instructor, I sometimes find it difficult to find the right responce to an infraction. Having worked through this couse I think that I will be able to get a better grip (direction) when that time arises. We have a large number of adult students and finding a successful way to address them, without making them feel belittled or "threatened" will definitly help
We do have a dress code in our school, that includes the covering of tattoos, piercings, abnormal hair coloring. They are all required to wear the same uniform. I think this prepares the students for success in the job market.
I believe we should all enforce the dress code.
There is a need for a faculty council to allow issues of classroom management as well as school wide policy to be discussed in an unfiltered manner. Many students talk to their instructors but not their departments or colleges about issues or problems.
This does not allow for a simplified way for addressing general policy areas.
As has been mentioned with others, there is always some variety of enforcement of school policy from instructor to instructor. We are trying to become more consistant in a department by department strategy. In our departmental meetings we are sharing class expectations sheets with each other in an effort to find agreement on an acceptable, across-the-board set of rules. These polices will periodically be highlighted in our campus wide meetings so that other departments and administration will have input on major disiplinary issues and how they deal with them. It is an ongoing process that helps us all adjust in unison to the changing dynamics our student population brings.
Frederic I totally agree with you on the cellphone policy. That is one policy that I can not avoid. I like the idea of forfeiture until the class is over. I have always wanted to put a cell phone box at the front of the class and have the students put them in their until the class is over. They are disruptive, annoying and allows for the class focus to be off. Thanks for you post.
Steve,
I have to agree with you. Not having these students until they are already attending the school for numerous months and not being talked to or made to follow the rules makes it difficult to reverse the issue. I also agree that whomever has them from day one needs to follow through with the polices and take them serious. After 6 months it is going to take a lot of discipline to have the student comply.
We have a dress code that we enforce also otherwise no telling what they might wear. As far as jewelry in their ears, only studs and not hoops because they could catch on something. We really stress safety.
Cell phone usage while in the classroom cannot be tolerate. What we do is have a cellphone policy that stated all cell phone cannot be uses other than official break time or lunch. If caught using your cellphone outside of these times is immediate forfeiture of your cellphone for the reminder of that classroom day. If this happens before lunch, do not expect to get it back until the end of the day which is 5:00pm.
Linda, while to do agree with your comments and in a perfect world this would be the case. The reality however is a bit different and you may not always have this type of support. The way I have always explained my class rules to my students is how I am preparing them for the real world. No two employers or supervisors will manage or lead in exactly the same ways. In the world today the average person will have more than 10 jobs in their lifetime and as many as 3 or more careers. With this knowledge it is my job to prepare them as best as possible and this is why the rules in my classroom may be different than they will see in other classrooms. My rules are intended to maximize success within my classroom environment while the rules used by another instructor may be their way of maximizing success in theirs. I hope you find this helpful. I am happy to discuss this in further details if you are interested.
James Jackson
There needs to be consistancy both by administrators and instructors in order for school discipline to be executed uniformly. The instructor should be informed by the administrators of proper policy regarding diciplinary policies so they can be properly implimented.
In my case, the students in my class have been at the school for a while (6 to 8 months) when they come to my class, I find that if they have not been reprimanded or at least spoken to about their not adhering to the school policies , then it becomes more difficult for me to enforce the policies . I find that when the policies are gone over the first day of class and adhered to from day one it makes everything better in the long term.
Sarah, following your schools policies and procedures if important but requires support from the top down. Rules cannot be easily enforced if some implement the rules in one direction while others go in the opposite direction. Administrators put instructors in very difficult situations by not enforcing the policies for all to follow. Being consistent throughout the entire school is also a critical factor towards student acceptance of those rules. Great topic so please provide other comments as others read through this post.
James Jackson
Our school is facing the same situation. Even though our industry does not allow for earing for sanitation issues, a corporate edict allowed students to wear them in the classroom. However, we state very clearly that the earings must fit certain guidelines. They must be studs with no hanging parts or contain stones. If students come in wearing earings that do not fit this requirment then they must remove them before class. I even offer a small bag that they can set them in so they are less likly to lose them.
