I spoke in Cambridge, Massachusetts to college and university professors who prepare future teachers.
I suggested that they have a dilemma. They wish to expose future teachers to various approaches to discipline. With this in mind, they use textbooks which share a number of discipline approaches, such as C.C..Charles’ Building Classroom Discipline. (Incidentally, the Raise Responsibility System is included in the more recent editions.)
Unfortunately, when their students are asked at the end of their course whether or not they feel confident to walk into their first classroom knowing good classroom management procedures and having a discipline approach that is “user friendly” for both teacher and student, these future teachers inevitably answer in the negative.
We expose future teachers to knowledge of different approaches but do not actually teach the skills of any one. This means that education is the only profession that does not prepare its practitioners for that which is most important to their success. In the case of classroom teaching, this means having SKILLS (not just knowledge) in both classroom management AND discipline. (If you are unclear about the differences, visit this website. Also, rread
Read the article entitled, “Curriculum, Instruction, Classroom Management, and Discipline.”
In spite of the challenge I presented, the Raise Responsibility System was received with great enthusiasm.
