The Assertive Teacher
There are several attributes found in teachers who successfully use the Assertive Discipline technique. The teacher must develop these, even if they are not a natural part of their personality. While the word "assertive" might seem negative, the successful Assertive Teacher will be friendly with students while carefully maintaining boundaries so they are not not friends.
-- Get to know students as individuals
-- Establish strong home-school ties
-- Teach students the behaviors expected from them
-- Motivate and excite students to learn
-- Establish a discipline plan
(Learning 12,14)
Here's a link to a 2 minute video with Canter; a snippet of one of his DVD sets....
- Teachers must develop a "teacher voice," which assertively demands respect and authority. This voice says, "When I'm up here teaching, I expect that all students will have their eyes on me and will not be talking so everyone can here what I'm saying" (Assertive Discipline 9). The teacher voice "fills the room" (Assertive Discipline 10) without yelling, so that all students can hear the teacher and are ready to respond.
- The teacher must always speak alone; if a student is speaking out of turn, the teacher should stop immediately and refocus the student. If the student is allowed to speak while the teacher is speaking, that implies to the student that they don't need to listen to the teacher (Assertive Discipline 11).
- The Assertive Teacher reacts quickly to misbehavior and should never argue with the student if the student is misbehaving; they should repeat their request or demand of the student without discussion. The time for discussion with a student is not while the misbehavior is in progress (Assertive Discipline 12-13).
- Teachers must hold high expectations. That means there is no excuse for misbehavior (Assertive Discipline 16) -- there may be extenuating circumstances which have led to this misbehavior, but those circumstances do not excuse the behavior.
- The Assertive Teacher constantly monitors for positive behavior in order to "catch" students being good, to recognize and support appropriate behavior and let them know the teacher likes it. (Canter, Phi Delta Kappan 58).
- To foster good relationships with students, the Assertive Teacher will:
-- Get to know students as individuals
-- Establish strong home-school ties
-- Teach students the behaviors expected from them
-- Motivate and excite students to learn
-- Establish a discipline plan
(Learning 12,14)
Here's a link to a 2 minute video with Canter; a snippet of one of his DVD sets....