DISCIPLINE, BEHAVIOUR AND CLASSROOM CONTROL

By Elisa Amelia Gallino Yanzi

When we talk about discipline, we usually talk about BEHAVIOUR and problems of CLASSROOM CONTROL. When we talk about CLASSROOM CONTROL we refer to the process of leading a class effectively and in an organized way. That organized effective process enables every student to develop its own aptitudes and attitudes towards learning and build its own rules of interaction with others and with knowledge.

Knowing the behaviour that derives in conflicts in the classroom and its main constituent variables is essential for freeing the teacher from the fright of not being able to control the class and its concomitant low self- esteem effect.

The variables to be taken into account are:

1. STUDENTS’ age, aptitude, attitude and motivation.

2. TEACHERS’ personalities; sense of justice and humour; attitude towards teaching, learning, the people involved and the profession itself; physical appearance and clothing; personal expressions and movements in the class; voice; prejudices; organization and management of the class; knowledge of the subject.

3. FAMILIES’ organization; codes of conduct and respect; crisis; supportiveness of their kids and school measures; participation in school life; monitoring of homework.

4. SCHOOL rules; communication; grading, evaluation and examination systems and their relationship with the plan of studies.

Whenever things don’t work as expected, the teacher’s and its students’ behaviour together with the family situation and the school organization should be analyzed: those four areas interact actively in the building of the classroom ecology.

All interactions in the classroom convey the risk of behaviour problems. THE TEACHER is the one in charge of PREDICTING OR SOLVING CLASSROOM CONTROL PROBLEMS as well as PLANNING AND LEADING THE CLASS for the STUDENTS to BUILD the appropriate individual and group BEHAVIOUR that enable them to learn their own pace, their own rhythm, either individually or in groups.

Enabling students to develop strategies to learn in a supportive atmosphere is the goal of effective classroom control.

What is the greatest control problem in class?1

1 The most important and frequent problem in class is student’s chat. The greatest challenge for

teachers is “students stop talking, listen and do”. The importance of the chatting problem varies according to the

age of the students and the teachers’ own subjective ideas on chatting.