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Summary: Every parent, every teacher, needs a menu of effective corrections that can be employed at the drop of a hat.
The major discipline error is that penalties are not mild enough.
Penalties that are too severe leave you no place to go.
The second common error is that adults talk too much.
Every parent and teacher needs a menu of mild corrections that demonstrate that the adult is in charge, and that poor choices result in negative consequences. These corrections require virtually no talking. Talking is often interpreted as a reward.
What defines an effective punishment and correction? An effective punishment is one that, after it is introduced, reduces unwanted behavior.
A MENU OF EFFECTIVE CORRECTIONS
- apology to a specific person, both verbal and written
- assigned seating (a loss of choice)
- call parents on a cell phone right in front of the class. Explain that when the child chooses appropriate behavior the child is welcomed to continue
- catch someone else doing something right (Proximity Management)
- direction to the child to stand by you for one minute
- direction to the child to stay where he is for one minute
- discuss specific behavior and relate it to global rule, "Is this an example of doing unto others?"
- Friday detention
- group time out ("You owe me 1 minute.")
- in-class time out (send student to back of room for 60 seconds)
- incident report for your own records
- involvement of administrator
- move to end of line
- redirection back to global rules
- redirection to repeat behavior correctly
- redirection back to classroom rules
- referral to the front office
- review of the rules
- state a more positive choice, "Here's what just happened... What other choice could have been made?"
- student calls home and speaks with parent
- time out for one minute
- verbal correction (tell them what you want, not what you don't want):
Good Example: Bill, please close the door quietly.
Bad Example: Bill, don't slam the door.
Punishment must be immediate, consistent and tied to a specific
behavior. As with all aspects of Positive Disciple, "The
people who receive the information, handle the situation."
Punishment should be handled by the office only in special circumstances.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: EFFECTIVE CORRECTIONS © April 2001 by Rory Donaldson. All rights reserved. In order to help reverse the tide of academic failure and optimize success, individuals may copy brainsarefun solutions for non-commercial use at no charge. Contents may not be sold or repackaged in any manner without the written permission of Rory Donaldson. Since all material is copyrighted, please ensure that this entire copyright notice and contact information continues to be attached to each article you download. Mr. Donaldson appreciates the feedback. Additional solutions may be viewed and downloaded at no charge by logging on to brainsarefun.com. New titles are being added regularly.
Suggestions and comments encouraged, email: roryd@brainsarefun.com.
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