Building Classroom Discipline

Building Classroom Discipline

To effectively educate students in the classroom, teachers must first create an atmosphere conducive to learning. Without that environment, students tend to lose focus and can get easily distracted. From there, it is only a matter of time before chaos ensues. Building classroom discipline, though, is no easy task. Discipline begins the second you step into the room and must be maintained through each minute, each class, every day, and every term. That is why it is so important to get it right from the start, when possible. However, it is never too late to take control.

Even the most efficient class can go a little off the rails from time to time. To manage discipline while keeping a positive, constructive attitude, teachers often try to play it by ear as they charge through the various situations that arise during lesson time. Sometimes it works; other times, not so much. The key to success is remembering the objective of discipline in the first place, which is to ensure each student receives the maximum opportunity to learn.

For students to reach their academic and personal goals, they need a friendly, stable classroom environment, and it is the teacher’s job—your job—to establish those conditions regularly. Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne is here to help with your learning-boosting endeavors! Through Building Classroom Discipline, teachers learn incredibly practical and proven strategies that can turn any “discipline-challenged” classroom into a textbook model of proper behavior and attentive study.

Why Classroom Discipline is Essential

We have all seen classrooms that were simply out of control. What effect does this have on the students, and how long does it impact their lives? The most immediate impact is the failure to learn, and that has the potential to have lasting effects beyond the class period. Instead of achieving what they came to school to do, they waste not only their own time but interfere with the learning of other students by creating distractions. Distractions can be contagious. They may start with one student misbehaving and can inspire similar behavior from their peers, quickly reaching a tipping point where the teacher is no longer in charge.

Lack of discipline, then, ultimately prevents the teacher from performing their tasks to prepare students for the future. Left unchecked, those students who act out will feel encouraged to continue the behavior, ultimately leading to poor grades and other ramifications. Meanwhile, the impact on students who are trying to learn can be equally significant, as their concentration gets derailed despite their best efforts to focus. The teachers are left struggling to try and pick up the pieces after losing control. Other students are seeking approval that they are missing from their home environment, which is why a careful and encouraging approach is necessary.

When discipline breaks down, everyone loses, including teachers whose morale may suffer or who might throw up their hands in frustration. Yet as tempting as it may seem, most teachers know that giving up is never an option! Instead, they have to get back on the horse and start implementing discipline strategies that work.

Creating an atmosphere regulated by boundaries helps teachers and students alike, but the responsibility for building such an environment rests in your capable hands. You do not have to go it alone, though. Building Classroom Discipline offers a powerful array of real-world management strategies that will get your students on track in a hurry. Equally important, it will boost your resolve and dust off that “can-do” attitude, giving you the will power you need to take charge!

Benefits of the Course

Imagine a class where students do not disrupt you or their peers, where everyone follows the rules, completes their assignments quietly, and turns in homework on time. Imagine every student caring and sincerely trying to learn what you are teaching! This utopian dream can only be made possible by nipping poor discipline in the bud, and never tolerating it to crop back up.

No matter what grade level you teach, Building Classroom Discipline will show you how to curb bad behavior and prevent negative attitudes from arising. You will get the latest proven methods to stop students from disturbing class or causing themselves and their peers to miss critical educational opportunities.

This course relies on proactive, positive approaches demonstrated to work better than ineffective methods of punishment. You will learn how to:

Use the fundamentals of positive discipline.
Identify and address the four mistaken goals of behavior.
Create reasonable, student-centered rules and consequences everyone can buy into and honor.
Firmly clarify your daily and long-term expectations.
Create a guidance plan and establish routines to get and stay organized.
Instill awareness of student community responsibilities.
Cement your position of decisive authority in the eyes of the class.
Integrate proven, real-world strategies to support engagement and knowledge retention.
Raise your awareness of diversity and student backgrounds to inform decision-making.
Facilitate a respectful, cooperative learning relationship.
Get the best out of your students by motivating them with Preferred Activity Time (PAT).
Identify and evaluate your unique teaching and classroom leadership style.
Make teaching and learning experiences vibrant and enjoyable.

Objectives for Building Classroom Discipline

Building Classroom Discipline, offered through Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne, features a curriculum perfectly suited for busy K-12 teachers. The content is timely, practical, and user-friendly. Best of all, it can be easily completed in either an online or PDF via email format.

Through engaging topics like discipline fundamentals and solutions, creating structure, teaching rules, and managing extreme behavior, you’ll learn everything you need to be more precise and compelling with your words, to stop power struggles, and to implement logical natural consequences.

Successful completion of this classroom-changing course will smooth the way for teaching and learning to be fun and rewarding again! The new skills and credits received can even boost your professional career, qualifying you for potential promotions, pay increases, or license renewal/recertification.

Building Classroom Discipline can be taken alone, or it can be counted as three credits towards Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne’s 15-credit certificate in Motivation and Classroom Management. Other course options for this certification include:

Note, the University of La Verne is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Since requirements may vary, students should check with their school district or state department of education prior to enrolling in a course.

How to Register

Building Classroom Discipline is offered online or via an emailed PDF format. It is open for anyone to register at any time during a semester. After completion, students earn graduate, non-degree semester credit from Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne, as reflected on their official transcript.

Registration is fast and simple and can be done online or over the phone. Courses are offered on a rolling basis during three standard semesters, so you can begin whenever you feel ready! Students may register in a maximum of 15 credits each semester. The registration dates are:

Fall: September 1 - January 31
Spring: February 1 - May 31
Summer: June 1 - August 31

Learn how to take control of your classroom environment and reap the rewards of an optimized, well-disciplined classroom today!