Discipline Guide
Discipline Guide
This guide will help teachers determine what steps to take with students exhibiting a variety of behaviors. Remember that the best way to have low discipline is to have strong classroom management, a treatment agreement, positive trusting relationships, and great instruction. This will help address 95% of student-related issues. We promise.
Prior to referring a student to the office, please ask yourself "Did I set and follow clear ACADEMIC and BEHAVIOR Expectations? Did I try everything in the classroom first? Did I make parent contact by phone (not just email)? Did I try a proactive restorative action?"
“For a child to learn something new, you need to repeat it, on average, eight times. For a child to unlearn an old behaviour and replace it with a new behavior, you need to repeat the new behavior an average of 28 times.”
Discipline Terms to Know
Skyward (Classroom or Office) Referrals:
Skyward Referrals are open records that parents can request. Please follow some basic rules:
Use student’s exact phrasing. Use 'Fuck', not the 'F word' if profanity was used.
Do NOT use other student’s names.
Leave out emotion. --ie., "This student needs to learn how to behave..."
Use facts only but be specific. If the student was insubordinate, tell how, NOT that they were insubordinate.
State your actions and parent contact.
Once you send an office referral, the consequences are out of your hands. Admin will discuss any consequence with you, but be prepared to go over parent contact and have an mediation with the student and parent if the admin deems it is needed.
Classroom Considerations and Actions:
Detentions:
30 minute detentions should be handled by the individual teacher. Do not assign a detention without speaking to (not just emailing) the parent. A student will not be expected to serve a detention without appropriate parent contact.
If a student doesn't serve a detention, this is NOT an office referral -- Reassign the detention and notify the parent. Consider the reasons why the detention wasn't served and try something else.
1 hour detentions should only be assigned by school admin unless prior arrangements are made with an admin. School detentions are Monday through Thursday 4:30-5:30. There is a late bus.
Alternate Projects to a Detention:
Communication Musts
Teacher - Parent
It is almost always advisable to have the student explain what happened during class if you have time.
Take a few minutes to step into the hallway with the student and make a short call with a script something like this..
" Hi, Mrs. Jones, this is Mrs. Smith from Durham MS. I am John's science teacher. I have only a few minutes, but John and I stepped into the hallway for a private conversation with you. I am going to have John explain why we are calling you, and I will be stepping back into the classroom. If you need to speak to me after his explanation, I will call you back after school. Just so you know, he has received a warning from me today and next time, he will have a written classroom referral. We have several steps before an office referral, but we prefer to put a stop to things early. When he gets home, please have him write an apology note and a plan to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Thank you so much for your support and help with getting John's behavior turned around so this doesn't become a habit. Please call me at any time to discuss science."
At this point, hand the phone to the student and move back to the doorway to supervise the other students, but make sure you have gone over with the student what he is supposed to say and the main point of why he is calling. You can create a script for the students to use too...
Make this phone call BEFORE you have to assign any consequences and allow this to serve as a warning ---this gives the parent a chance to fix it and it builds a much better relationship than if you send an email that states John has a 30-minute detention.
Teacher - Admin
If either you or the student is escalated, do not explain or label student behavior to admin in front of the student. We know something is wrong.
Under no circumstances, should the teacher label the student, “This is the most disrespectful student I have ever met….” where the student can hear. This will only damage the relationship and make repair hard. It might be true, but is it helpful? Wait to explain until you and the student is calmer or hold a closed door conversation with us. Sometimes, you just need to vent and we can listen.
Next steps: if you tell us that the student has been doing this or that or this or that over and over again. we will support you, but we will also set up a plan so that this doesn't happen with this student or another student. Be prepared to attend a mediation circle with you and the student and, probably, the parents after school or the next morning.
Gentle Reminder: Please do not call the office to ask for a student to be removed (unless it is a major incident) without speaking to (not just emailing) a parent and trying alternative actions that are documented in Skyward under classroom referrals.
Teacher - Student
How to Avoid Power Struggles and Get Compliance
Mild Defiance: “Hey, that isn’t like you? Everything okay? What’s going on? What should you have done? What are you going to do now?” or "Help me understand what just happened."
Horseplay: “Whoa! That kind of thing could hurt someone. Please stand here by me for 1 minute and talk to me and then I will let you go to class. How is your day so far? Everything ok?”
Non-compliance: “I have reminded you of our rules and I am not happy with your choice, so I am going to come back in 1 minute and we can try again. I expect that you will do as I ask in that minute.”
Power struggles: Review the posted and previously agreed-on rules BEFORE asking for a student to take action and avoid a 2-choice dilemma for students -- offer him or her a true choice. Saying do this or go to the office is not a true choice. Saying "How about 5 minutes on this and then 5 minutes with a partner?" is a true choice.
If either you or the student is escalated, do not explain or label student behavior to admin in front of the student. Wait to explain until you and the student is calmer or hold a closed door conversation. Under no circumstances, should we label the student, “This is the most disrespectful student I have ever met….” for example. This will only damage the relationship and make repair hard. It might be true, but is it helpful?
