Punishment

Hey everyone :D I have been asked by the MOE to do a lecture on punishment. So I am just wondering what everyone does in their classrooms as I would like to give a decent and useful lecture. I have been a teacher for many years, so I have a good idea of what works and doesn't work but I would like to hear your opinion.

Please tell me your methods and explanations on what you do in the classroom. This will help me give a more rounded lecture and increase the usefulness for the new teachers coming in December.

Nothing apart from shout politely to be quiet occasionally.

That's all I'm allowed to do by the co-teacher. I used to poke them with one of those rubber hands on a stick when they fell asleep, but they even stopped that (despite 4 finding it hilarious, 3 not caring and 1 not liking it).

Not too sure where this lies on the punitive to responsibility-fostering spectrum of punishments, but one I recall as a classic from when I went through school, and that I've had to use a couple of times with older (elementary/primary school) grades is if the class is acting up way too much, just treat them like younger kids for a bit. So in this case that means things like popping on a "Hello Song" or something and explain that if they would like you to treat them like Nth graders, that's OK too, it's their choice.

Usually I take away something of theirs (book, pencil case, never anything really valuable).  They ask for it back and I tell them they can have it after class.  When class is over I have them write down "I will not...." and then have them sign it.  Next I draw a line for their homeroom teacher to sign, once the homeroom teacher has signed it they can have their book or pencil case back.   

I should mention that I've only done this 5 times.  Each time was a severe case of misbehavior.  Three cases were for fighting and the other two were for students dropping F bombs after they had been told (in Korean) not to use that word.  I only use this as a last resort and I think its usually pretty effective.  Four out of times the homeroom teacher has apologized to me and assured me that the students won't do it again.

Rather than punishment I think a strong focus on classroom management would be very useful. Many beginning teachers and definitely my Korean co-teachers have not had any training in classroom and behaviour management, which would make their lives so much easier.
Things like-
Seating charts- separating students who are disruptive, sitting the less focused students closest to where the teacher will be for most of the lesson
Moving around the room- the teacher moving throughout the room instead of standing at the front of the class for the lesson makes a huge difference, students chat, draw etc less. as they know you could pop up behind them at any stage
The good old 'table teams' each team gets points or equivalent (I usually give a sticker or something to the group with the most points) the team with the lowest points has to tidy the room
A whole class points system- they get points for specific behaviour (listening, responding to questions in a clear voice, etc) and once they reach a certain amount there is a whole class reward (I usually use Mr. Bean (I also have a visual representation of the 'points' - A number line with different arrows to show each of the classes. I move the arrow to add or detract points. The classes are also motivated to 'beat' each other
The list goes on.. and I'm sure many other people have alot of other ideas too. I think the main thing for me is that I feel the focus is on punishment rather than behaviour management, which lends a much more positive atmosphere to the classroom

Detention. I have them stay after class during the 10 minutes break time.

If they were really bad I make them stay during the 10 minutes and clean the classroom such as straightening the desks and picking up trash that other students left behind.

Then I talk to them and ask them not to behave like this again.

Excellent! please keep the ideas flowing. There are no right or wrong answers, I just need need to get an idea of what everyone is doing. I live the management idea as it is always great to manage rather punish. However, some of the times you have to play the cards you are dealt.

At the orientation this year, there was a couple that I thought had a great idea and I've used with 4th graders.

Basically, write "GAME" on the board at the beginning of class. When the class does not quiet down or follow any other task, I erase a letter. If all letters are erased, no game and they write/put heads down/ whatever.

This has really worked well for me for elementary school students.

By the second letter erased, you have about half the class policing the few who don't seem to get it. The only drawback on this is you have to deliver if they don't listen and I always feel bad because the game is sometimes the only way the lower level students learn anything...

I teach at an all girls middle school, but have also taught at boys and mixed middle schools. From my experiences:

Starting with classroom management:
* I always try to start my classes the same way. Routine seems to work well with my kids.
* Before starting ANYTHING, I just stand at the front of the class with my arms folded & look at the kids who are talking. After doing this a few times, they soon learn I'm waiting for them to settle down so I can start the lesson. One thing I've noticed: If I don't get control of the class from the very start, it's a continual battle for the entire length of the class, but if I do, then life is easy.
* Silence is key. If the kids are talking, I walk up and stand next to them, whilst continuing with the lesson. I don't need to say anything, but they soon get the hint. Alternately, if they are being really disruptive, I again just stop, and stand with my arms folded looking at them. They other kids generally tell them to be quiet.

As for punishment:
* if they are talking, make them stand. If they continue to talk, make them stand at the front of the class.
* My kids sit at group tables. If the whole group (or two or three of the six kids) is being disruptive, I'll make the whole group stand.
* If the class is particularly bad, I'll keep track of how much time they take from my lesson, and have them pay it back in their own time. Particularly works well if they happen to have class right before lunch. By some quirk of my schedule, I'm lucky enough that most of my really bad classes are right before lunch.
* The worst I did was make two kids, who were constantly playing up, pick up garbage in the school yard for the whole of their lunch time (once they had finished eating). They were extremely unhappy about it, but they became two of the best kids in that class.

Other punishment includes:
* Graffiti on the desk -> spend their spare time with an eraser or wet cloth cleaning all the desks.
* Garbage on the floor or on the shelf under the desk -> clean the garbage out of all the desks and off the floor by hand, then empty the garbage bin.

One last important point:

CATCH KIDS BEING GOOD!

If you are talking about punishment, you should also talk about reward. As anyone who's trained an animal knows, rewards work better than punishment. So, as often as you "sternly" talk to someone, or punish someone, you should say kind words or reward twice as many for being attentive, participating, trying, and doing the work you ask of them.

awesome!!

Oh, and Janitor, if you have a copy of the lecture you give in written form, would you mind sharing it with us? It may be a valuable resource for newbies and oldbies (?) alike. 

I've read the stickies on here about how to lesson plan etc, but I'd love to see a list of class management tricks & skills added to the stickies.

Definitely. I will post everything that I will use plus the notes as I hope it will benefit some.

If some are waiting for the notes from the lecture I will be posting them up shortly. I am not sure what happened but I haven't heard anything from the MOE, so after making a PPT and everything I have yet to actually use it. I will be posting soon

If some are waiting for the notes from the lecture I will be posting them up shortly. I am not sure what happened but I haven't heard anything from the MOE, so after making a PPT and everything I have yet to actually use it. I will be posting soon

I was just thinking about this yesterday. :)

Looking forward to seeing what you came up with.