Based on my experience and observations I have learned one or two things about discipline policies in schools. First, an effective discipline policy is often not mentioned by staff members because it is a non-issue. An ineffective discipline policy can dominate the complaints and become a demoralizing factor with any staff. It also does not serve as a model for students to understand that there are consequences for poor decisions.
The effectiveness of any discipline policy will rely on the person in charge of enforcing it. This is often put down as the function of the principal or, on the secondary level, an assistant principal. The enforcement or interpretation of the policy by that person goes a long way in making the policy effective or not. For that reason many schools have spelled out the possible infractions, as well as the escalating consequences for repeat offenses. This limits interpretation making it fair for all offenders. It also limits the pleading parents pointing out the Johnny did the same thing and received no punishment, and asking,”Why are you persecuting my child and letting Johnny go Scott-free?”
Until recently, most offenses were familiar to administrators. There were enough repetitive offenses to examine, catalog, and even predict things that kids would do, which would require consequences. Armed with such a list the best course of action would be to: list them out, assign consequences, develop a repeat offense clause with escalating consequences, publish the Discipline Policy, read it to all students, and finally send a copy to the parents, getting a signature indicating their understanding of the policy. All of that being done, all is right with the world or at least the world of school.
The Fly in the ointment; Technology has now arrived on the scene. It brings unpredicted behavior. It is wrapped in myths and misconceptions. The reality for administrators is that perception is reality for teachers and parents. If teachers and parents buy the myths than the administrator often bases the discipline policy on those perceptions, or misconceptions. This accounts for the development of other policies: Internet safety, Cyber-bullying, Banning the Internet, and Banning cell phones.
I am in not in any way minimizing the dangers of the internet. There is danger in the lack of understanding and in the misuse and abuse of any technology. But these issues cannot be solely addressed in one discipline policy. They are as much a matter of teaching and learning as they are a matter of disciplinary action.
Cyber bullying is extremely devastating, but it is a modern form of Bullying. It does not have to be a separate policy. Bullying is something every district should be addressing as early as possible. Being a good citizen extends to the digital world. We need to teach kids to deal with those issues that they need to know for their world. When I was a kid the computers we had, took up a room and ordinary people had no access, but we had bullies. The way it was handled then was to teach self-defense and tell the kid to stand up to the bully and try to beat the crap out of him (bullies often thought to be males in those days).
The issue of Bullying was brought to the forefront of Education after the Columbine massacre. I do not know if it was Cyber bullying or the regular version that set that into motion. I do not know if the percentage of cyber bullying exceeds the percentage of everyday intimidation by non-digital bullies. My point is we need to address the concept of bullying in any form and not concentrate or address one form over another.
The new debate is the removal of the barriers of walls, time, and distance. Technology allows bullies to intimidate students in other buildings and after school hours. This is not an easy issue for many administrators to handle. For others it is as simple as any other bullying issue. The student’s safety and security in the learning environment are paramount. If a student is being bullied by someone face to face or digitally because of their contact within the learning environment it must be dealt with by the administrator. That is one of the many things they are suppose do.
Another issue is the banning of all cell phones because students text during class. To me it is another short-sighted policy which can easily be addressed in a discipline policy. First, I taught on the secondary level for 34 years and for every class during each of those years, I established rules for the classroom. If I was teaching that level today, I would address the proper use and etiquette of the Mobile Learning Devise in the classroom. I teach college now and the first question I would ask myself if I have a student texting during my class is “what am I not doing to engage this kid in learning? It would be on me initially. If it continues after my adjustments then a discipline policy should cover a continued infraction. I would never ask an administrator to enact a school-wide policy because I could not enforce rules in my class.
Finally, my soapbox issue, the banning of the internet because students may access inappropriate material is another knee-jerk policy. I have discussed this issue in many previous posts. In this post however, it is purely from a discipline point of view. It is my contention that we must educate our students about the internet from early on. They need to be taught what is appropriate and what is not. We need to teach them good digital citizenry and then we may hold them accountable. Appropriate use of technology should be a part of any discipline policy today. The rub comes in kids understanding of appropriate use. As it is now many kids get their internet experience “from the Streets” because we are not addressing it in the schools at age-appropriate times. We cannot hold them responsible for what we refuse to teach.
Of course there is also the perception that children will be lured from the schools and be molested by an internet lurking child predator. This has happened and there is no denying that. It is also probably one of the biggest fears parents have in regard to their children. When we look at the real numbers of child molestation however, we need to understand it is more likely (about 90% likely) that a child will be molested by a family member or a close family friend. Are we addressing this in schools? I think it is not possible to Ban families.
Without a safe and secure teaching environment we cannot expect the level of learning we need to happen the way we expect. It requires thought and consideration to address the real issues to protect and discipline kids. This is a topic close to the hearts of many educators, and as such I expect a great many comments. I also realize that one’s position in the system will affect the perspective on this issue. I expect administrators’ comments to be different from teachers’ comments. Have at it folks, or should I say, have at me!
I agree that a good discipline policy will address the ‘new’ issues that have come up. It really just comes back to respect in the classroom and acting respectful to others, whether your learning is taking place in a building, on a blog, or in a social network. Adding separate cellphone, etc policies are not what we should be focusing on, but often that is what happens.
It’s equivalent, in my opinion, to the many laws about what not to do while driving. Isn’t it just common sense that you should be paying attention while driving, not texting, eating, reading, applying makeup…
Totally agree with your: “The rub comes in kids understanding of appropriate use. As it is now many kids get their internet experience “from the Streets” because we are not addressing it in the schools at age-appropriate times. We cannot hold them responsible for what we refuse to teach.”
YES! We need to model and teach appropriate use not ‘band aid’ the issue. They won’t learn unless we give access and facilitate their growth.
Thanks for the timely post
Tom…thanks for your thoughts on this. You are so correct that we do not have the knee jerk reactions and just eliminate sites from our school because we are scared. We need to be proactive on how we work with students and as a principal, I do my best to open up our Internet for our students.
Once it is open though, staff needs to take advantage of the opportunities that are afforded to them. I just had a conversation with a teacher this morning on how she doesn’t “teach that stuff”. I talked to her about how if we are not preparing students to know the “rights and wrongs” of Internet use, who is doing it? I think that it is our responsibility in schools that are “open” to ensure that our staff is working with students on expectations while learning how to effectively collaborate, communicate, and use technology to improve deep learning opportunities. I see many teachers on the Internet complain that they do not have sites open and how it negatively impacts their students. As an open school, it is our responsibility to prove to others how effective this can be for education, in a safe and meaningful way.
Thanks so much for your thoughts.
Great post! I love how you state that if discipline policies are effective you do not hear about them. That is so true…all we talk about is discipline! I think adding technology and the bad press social media has been a victim of creates an atmosphere of “Don’t do any of it and we will be safe!” The problem is that this attitude makes it worse. Students are not taught to treat technology as any other tool we use to teach. We have to show respect to each other no matter where we are and I think not teaching students that you must respect people even when on-line is creating a nightmare for some students.
I equate this to the sex-ed we did not want to teach…let them figure it out. We saw how well that turned out! We now teach sex-ed in our school because teen pregnancies became an issue. Cyber bulling is becoming even more of an issue! Kids need to be taught there is a right and a wrong way to behave…anywhere! On-line learning is not going away and educators need to embraces it, not run in fear!
I hope they read your post! This is a great resource for any educator!
As a college teacher myself, I allow laptops in class. I tell the class that they can use them to take notes, look up things that they don’t know to help make sense of the class, or work on something else if I am covering something that they already know. If they use them in a way that interferes with their learning of the subject at hand, they are the losers. I view them as customers and if they want to waste their opportunity to learn, I don’t intend to stop them.
In public schools, the Internet needs to be filtered just as it should be at home by responsible parents. A lot of verbal bullying amounts to he said she said and as an administrator it is difficult to process. Cyber bullying leaves a trail that should give you evidence you can act on and make available to the parents of the offender.
Good discipline happens when you have an effective team of teachers and administrators.
Douglas W. Green, EdD – DrDougGreen.Com
Thanks Tom! I agree with you that we need to be more thoughtful and thorough in our implementation and usage of technology. If we don’t teach students how to use technology, how to behave, be in online or offline, then students are left handicapped.
As a parent, I am teaching my son what it means to be online, what it means to post something and the consequences. Schools need to be our partner in this effort and on the same page so that we give kids the tools they need to fight cyberbullies or otherwise.
Well written as always, love your blog.
[…] “Now that I wrote this I have a need to expand it on my own blog.” Tom then wrote his post which has now sparked thoughts for me (is there a 6 degrees of blog separation from Kevin Bacon […]
I wrote about something similar to this on my blog last week.
http://tinyurl.com/2fu33a7
I agree with so much that both you and the commenters have said. Often the very making of rules is what creates the problem. The incredible knee jerk reaction of some administrators and governing bodies to emerging technologies is making it almost impossible for us to teach our kids the ethical way to behave while they are using them. The mere fact that they are banned adds a whole mysterious and ‘naughty’ label to them.
Online is just another space where people go to meet, work and socialise. The same rules of society apply there as they do in every other public space.
I have been a teacher for 11 years. The last 3 I served as principal as well, so I read your post with both mindsets. I could not agree more with your statement about taking personal responsibility for the (college) kid who is texting during class. If all teachers were to feel this way and take more responsibility when a kid failed their class, or disrupts their class, education would be different at least and most likely better.
I cannot stand the knee-jerk create a policy for one family type of mentality. I believe it begins and ends with the teachers. Are we willing to surrender some control, admit we know less than the students. Are we willing to learn from the students just as much if not more than we expect them to learn from us?
Thanks for your post. I enjoyed reading it.
Tom, your thoughts are expressed with wisdom logic and clarity. Too often we ban the tool rather than address the behaviour. Luckily, those of us who were chronic note passers (back in the day)did not prompt a call to ban paper and pencils.
Thank you, your post is so true that we don’t hear about discipline policies when they are effective. I teach technology in an elementary school. My belief is most students want to be taught how to use technology and the tools it encompasses. The fears of parents and some teachers I feel can be relieved by helping them understand the benefit of using these tools. Parent reaction to using the Internet in class comes again in my belief from how things are presented in the news media. I see this in my own family if they hear it is dangerous having social media sites unblocked for students it becomes a big issue. Hopefully the more we help students, teachers, and parents in understanding how and when to use social media and the Internet we can dispelled their fears.
Great post–Tom, you cover a lot of ground here. As a high school classroom teacher I am concerned about how distracted students are by all of today’s tech at their fingertips. For example, my students report doing homework while chatting on IM or facebook, texting and listening to music. These students think they are so very smart, for A) doing their homework, unlike some of their classmates and B) keeping up relationships with friends. In reality, the quality of their work suffers with this lack of focus.
Now, when I get these kids in the lab to work on a project, they shift to their usual m.o.: surfing music, playing games, etc. while getting their work done. It doesn’t matter how compelling the assignment is…they are just doing what they are used to.
Teachers need to help students see the error of this habit. I don’t have the magic answer just yet…but I’m brainstorming activities I can do with my students to show them how much better their work would be if they sustained focus. My Dad was my basketball coach in 4th grade and we had one girl on the team who would never pass the ball. So, he lined 4 of us along the court basket to basket and then had us “race” to see how the ball could get the other end faster. The ball hog dribbled, and the rest of us passed and we won by a mile. Problem solved. My Dad could have just told her to pass the ball, but I doubt that would have been as effective as showing her.
So, one thing I’m going to do is teach my 2nd class of the year while texting and checking facebook on my own phone. The kids will still be a little scared of me and won’t really know my schtick yet. I’m also thinking of a simulation where I had half of the students stay in the classroom to read a passage and half of the students go to the lab to read while “playing” on the computers. After a few minutes we’d regroup and I’d give them a “test.” I suspect the students who were in the lab will protest…and then we can discuss. I am also planning on showing them the first chapter of PBS Frontline’s Digital Nation, with the MIT students.
Now, as for discipline….I need tech and admin support to enforce my policies. Many students will adhere to my rules, but not all. And as a public school teacher I cannot take the “college approach” of letting them fail themselves. I want to use my class time helping students use technology properly, not policing those who do not. I would like to periodically check up on my students, by getting a printout from IT listing what sites they were on while in my class.
Is this reasonable? Will this request be granted? Does anyone have practical strategies? And am I wrong in wishing that IT people and admins would shoulder more of this educational burden so classroom teachers can focus on teaching the skills specifically related to their content areas?
As for cyberbullying–the best way to combat it is to develop relationships with all of your students. That way you know the victim as well as the perpetrator and can respond appropriately. If the students involved don’t come to me directly, usually their peers do…cyberbullying at least is clearly done in a public way so “everyone” tends to know when it’s going on. Usually, just having me find out about it and telling both sides to “stop” gives the students enough of an out to cease the behavior. Also, cyberbullying is actually easier to police than traditional bullying because the rat can be among 900 facebook friends and can remain truly anonymous.