D is for dicipline

I teach. Everybody knows that. But few know how. A question that pops up every now and then is: 'Are you strict?' And the answer is: 'Yes.' That's a shocker for most. Few ask: 'Why?' The answer to that is simple: 'Because I have to.' Thai kids don't learn good behavior at home. They don't know about limits, dealing with anger, defeat, in fact: you name it and they don't know about it. Since I teach grade one, I am the first to guide them. Did I mention there are 35 of them? I am their teacher, their father, their big brother and super role model in every way. Quite a task. And yes: punishment is necessary. But I like to reward. For all you fellow teachers in Asia: this is my method and it works wonders.

1) Have a column on one side of the whiteboard marked 'Good students' (make it nice and colorful, add a cartoon character). On day one, put all the student's names in it.
2) Have a column on the other side of the whiteboard marked 'Naughty students' (no: not 'bad students', they are just misguided remember? :) Of course this side of the board is drab. I use a badly drawn unhappy smiley.
3) Explain what's gonna happen at the first transgression. Praise everybody for being on the good side.
4) Do your lessons. Warn the students when they get out of line. After the third time: erase them from the good side.
5) If the same student talks/plays/hits/forgets their homework/what evers again: put his or her name on the naughty side. Be sure to show your disappointment.
6) If the same student talks/plays/hits/forgets their homework/what evers again: add the number 10 behind the name. That means: write ten lines. Increase with 10 with every transgression. I use a tracing sheet with: 'I am sorry Teacher Boris'.
7) When you hit 50 or 100 lines: put them outside/take them to the principal/contact their parents. Normally you will rarely reach this point.
8) The kids get their lines on Friday. That means they will try to keep out of trouble until Friday or get more lines for the weekend.
9) On Monday you collect the sheets (and here's the important part), erase everybody from the naughty side, and put them back on the good side. Praise them. In my class the other kids even applaud.
10) If a kid scores a very high mark whilst being on the naughty side of the whiteboard (with or with out lines) and is clearly trying hard to be good: erase their name abd put it on the good side with due praise. In my class that happens only when they score 5 stars.
11) Kids that behave well and score high marks on their assignments or homework, or do what ever well get marked with a red star. The best student of the week (1 boy and 1 girl) gets a small gift or a piece of candy. It works very well if a student draws their own star behind his or her name .
12) Keep the kids just below the top on their toes by sometimes taking away the star. Be fair.

Of course this method needs to be tweaked a little for older students where it's about being cool and the pressure comes from the group more. The idea is to correct behavior, have many opportunities to do it and make it easy to get to to the good side.

One more tip: you can play angry. I do the old fire and brimstone routine every once in a while. But never be angry. It will eat you and all your energy up and you'll end up getting eaten alive by your class. Not a pretty sight. Believe me, I've seen it.

In case your wondering: the maximum number of students I've ever had on the naughty side: seven. Usually, it's three :)