Saturday, March 28, 2009
More education necessary
This article helped to reiterate the uncertainty I feel about having to discipline students in the very near future. I believe we take one class in the school of education about behavioral management, but is this really enough? I feel as though throughout my education classes thus far, questions or concerns regarding behavior or discipline have been largely avoided by teachers. I realize the topic is extremely complex and multi-faceted and thus would warrant an extensive discussion which may not fit into teachers' curriculum schedules, but perhaps it would be justified. The article made it clear that behavior management, particularly innefective and destructive ways of doing so, is a real problem in schools. Maybe if we took time, aside from one class, new teachers would feel more comfortable and be more effective at behavior management of diverse student populations. I think much of the issue lies in a lack of information rather than intentional mistreatment of students.
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I agree that there are definitely some ways that classroom management can be destructive. A teacher might believe that they are doing everything right but they could be discouraging students from learning by being to strict or ignoring students who are acting up. I also agree that there is a definitely a lack of information. We need to hear what works and what doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that there is a lack of knowledge! In my post I touched on this as well, that I think every teacher needs to do extra research for him or herself in order to find as many options as possible of things they could use in their own classroom. People do not learn all in the same way, so people probably all do not respond well to the same punishment or way of disciplining. Doing extra research could only help solve this problem.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well, Erica. Discipline is a tricky subject and being "educated" on the subject is somewhat limited. I think because methods of discipline have changed so much over time and are constantly changing, that being "up-to-date" on discipline is hard.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with this post. Behavior managmement to me is one of the areas that is on the minds of new teachers a lot. Given misguided perceptions and attitudes it is often seen even more important in an urban setting. It is interesting that not moire is taught regarding behavior management, yet at the same time no strategy works 100% of the time. I think it is an area that needs to be experienced and your own ideas of discipline need to arise. We do need to make sure these tactics are anti-oppressive though.
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