When I student taught junior high, discipline problems were easy to handle, but not at the high school! The students seem to run the school. In one particular class, they’re attentive as long as we have a class discussion on current issues. As soon as we try to teach from the text, they are completely out of control. The regular classroom teacher has tried everything she knows to do, and I’ve tried a few things I learned, but nothing seems to work. In other classes, students are very disrespectful—or they’re sleeping! Though I enjoyed my junior high experience, so far I am loathing this high school experience. What can the classroom teacher and I do?
Thanks,
Daniel

Answer 1:
Dear Daniel,

You’ve realized early on that teaching and learning cannot take place without discipline. The teacher’s ability to control the classroom environment is vital. Even the most carefully planned lesson of appropriately selected content and elaborately conceived materials is destined to fail in the absence of discipline. That said, what can be done to achieve control?

Understanding the cause of the problem is important. Discipline and control begin on the first day of class with clear expectations and established consequences that are enforced. You can’t build a structure without a foundation. Even when basic boundaries have been established, vacations or a teacher’s relaxed attitude may “egg on” poor behaviors. Therefore, whether problems are new or old, inflexible classroom rules and meaningful consequences for breaking those rules must be set. To be effective, rules should be short and broadly phrased. Examples:

1. Students must refrain from behavior that is not in their best interest or that of fellow students.
2. Students must refrain from behavior that is disruptive to the educational process.

Such rules then are expounded upon and explained in detail when presented to the class. For example, students must be told that talking while the teacher is talking is disruptive to the educational process and will not be tolerated. Once these rules are set and given to students, they must be enforced with consequences. Otherwise, they become ineffective. Note that sending students to the principal’s office should be reserved for the most serious infractions. Teachers are to enforce discipline with as little intervention from the administration as possible, except for instances completely out of bounds.

Consequences can include: detention, additional assignments, deprivation of a particular privilege, counseling, phone call to parents, or request for parent conference. When you establish consequences, also create positive rewards for successful behaviors. Set up privileges for the class to motivate and reward good behavior. Conversely, these privileges can be withheld for infractions. Whole-class privileges encourage others to conform, if only because of peer pressure.

The final and most important part of the plan is to be firm and consistent. Students are quick to spot weaknesses, indecision, and loopholes—and they will exploit them! To make such a plan work, the teacher must follow through on every infraction with the established consequence.

So, don’t give up, Daniel. Teaching high school students can be challenging, but it can produce the greatest rewards in terms of influencing students. You are a role model for these kids, whether they acknowledge it or not. You have the right and the responsibility to insist on behavior within the classroom that will allow you to do what you have learned how to do—TEACH!

Answer 2:
Dear Daniel,
Your first experience in junior high was a positive one. Perhaps that age group was more compatible to your teaching style, and administration provided more support for disciplining students who were disrespectful. High school can be challenging because students sometimes cannot handle new-found freedoms. I’m not sure what you have tried in the past, but I do know that getting kids to be actively involved in their learning is the best way to motivate better behaviors and attitudes. You mentioned that students are less disruptive when discussing current issues. Why don’t you try to build on this positive behavior by finding ways to connect current issues with the textbook?

Start by devoting one class period to modeling how this connection could be made. Choose a section of the textbook that you have already assigned and have the students open their books to it (also have the specific section on an overhead for those who forgot to bring the textbook to class). Read the section and determine the main idea presented. Then ask each student to write down any current issue related to this idea. Emphasize that there isn’t any one right answer; however, their ideas must correlate to the section read. You might give them five minutes to write individually and then five minutes to share their ideas with a partner. The partner teams then should decide on one specific issue they think best connects to the text.

At this point, students should have a reason for choosing the best idea. Have large sheets of paper ready, and ask five partner groups to work together to record their best idea. Allow another five minutes for this discussion. Next, ask these larger groups of 10 to rank, in descending order, the five ideas listed for the best connection to the main idea of the selection. Allow each partner group about 10 minutes to give a reason or two for why they feel their idea is best. Keep things moving! Ask each of these groups of 10 to rank the ideas presented from 1–5, with 1 being the best connection. Now have one student from each group share the number one idea with the whole class, which should get everyone involved in a lively discussion. If time runs short, you might stop once the sheets are finished and ideas ranked, saving the student-group representative discussion for the following day. Again, state the goal of the lesson. You want students to connect with contemporary issues in this class.

Once this technique has been well-established, parts of the lesson may be used as homework. For example, assign text pages to read and have students list connections made to current issues in the community, world, and school. Classroom discussions then could be based on students’ connections to the text.

Another effective idea is to post three sheets of paper in your classroom: one with a large plus sign, another with a minus sign, and a question mark on the third. Hang them in three different places in the classroom. As students enter the room, have them read a controversial statement from the textbook assignment and then stand by the sheet that represents their position, staying there until everyone is standing. The plus sheet represents agreement with the statement, minus means against the statement, and a question mark is for students unsure of their position.

Have students defend their position, aloud or in writing. First, give equal time to the plus and minus groups. Then, ask the “not sure” group whether anyone would like to move to one of the other groups. To move, they must give a reason based on what they have heard. Lastly, ask the pro and con group members if they’ve changed their positions based on the arguments heard. The rule is that to change groups, students must state a reason. The goal of this lesson is to help students realize that they must be thoughtful about positions they take and decisions they make in life.

I hope these ideas will be helpful to you. I also hope that you find this teaching opportunity in the high school as a learning opportunity for your teaching career.