Factors that Influence Classroom Discipline and Behavior Management

Reflection on Learning

Student discipline is one of the most important elements in the establishment of a safe learning environment for all students. A safe learning environment is in turn the premise with which students thrive as they work towards achieving desired academic goals. In this regard, teachers need to work with other school staff and the school administration towards enforcing and ensuring student discipline. Consequently, teachers engage in classroom discipline and behavior management as part of their efforts to enhance student discipline in the instructional environment. However, teachers need to understand the various aspects or factors that affect effective classroom discipline and behavior management as well as the significance of utilizing a preventative approach like a Positive Behavioral Support System (PBSS).
Influence of Grade and Building Levels
As previously mentioned, classroom discipline and behavior management is affected by various factors that determine the effectiveness of initiatives or approaches adopted by teachers to enhance student discipline. One of the influential factors in classroom discipline and behavior management is what happens at the grade and building levels. Events in grade and building levels affect classroom discipline and behavior management through influencing the student’s cognitive, social, and behavioral development. A student’s cognitive, social, and behavioral development is usually affected by what happens at grade and building level, which in turn affects their view of the instructional environment. The cognitive, social, and behavioral factors also affect interpersonal relationships between students and their interactions with environmental systems (O’Brennan, Bradshaw & Furlong, 2014).
Through affecting a student’s view of the instructional environment, what happens in the grade and building levels in turn influences the approaches teachers take in enforcing classroom discipline and behavior management. If students have a positive view of the instructional environment, teachers find it easy to enforce classroom discipline and manage the behaviors of learners. However, if the students’ perceptions of the instructional environment are negative, teachers have difficulties in enforcing and ensuring classroom discipline and behavior management. These challenges emerge from the fact that the events at grade and building levels generate poor outcomes in students’ interactions with others and the learning environment.
Influence of the Instructional Environment
The instructional environment comprises various elements, which implies that it plays a crucial role in classroom discipline and behavior management. Some of the important elements in an instructional environment include the teacher, the academic and social skills curriculum, instruction in a classroom, and the students’ individual characteristics. Effective classroom discipline and behavior management approaches require harmony between these various elements. In essence, harmony between these various elements in the instructional environment is the key towards establishing a safe learning environment for all students.
The instructional environment influences effective classroom discipline and behavior management through promoting the use of suitable instructional strategies that promote good behaviors among students. In this regard, teachers utilize instructional strategies like cooperative learning, which facilitate positive interactions and relationships between students and teachers as well as among students. Secondly, this environment influences effective classroom discipline and behavior management through promoting consideration of the individual and collective needs of students (Marzano, Marzano & Pickering, 2003). These needs are in turn incorporated in the classroom curriculum design and help in classroom behavior management by making students feel fulfilled as they learn. Additionally, the instructional environment influences classroom behavior management through determining the effectiveness of teaching strategies adopted by teachers. These strategies are the premises upon which teachers meet students’ needs and desires in the learning environment.
Use of a Preventative Approach
Teachers can utilize a preventative approach like Positive Behavioral Support System to enhance classroom discipline and behavior management. Such approaches influence classroom discipline and behavior management through promoting and maximizing prosocial behavior of students while lessening the number of students requiring strategic/intensive behavioral interventions. These preventative approaches like PBSS achieve this through providing a framework for students to learn and engage in prosocial behaviors (Knoff, 2012). Additionally, students learn about the consequences associated with engaging in negative/undesired behaviors in the classroom environment and school setting. As a result, these approaches like PBSS act as deterrents that prevent students from engaging in bad behaviors while encouraging positive behaviors. As students engage in prosocial behaviors learned from preventative approaches, the numbers of those requiring strategic/intensive behavioral interventions reduces significantly, which demonstrates the effectiveness of these approaches in enhancing student discipline.
In conclusion, classroom discipline and behavior management is a multifaceted process that plays an integral part in the establishment of a safe learning environment for all students. The multifaceted nature of this process is attributable to the incorporation of various elements in the instructional environment and school setting. Some of the elements that influence classroom discipline and behavior management include what happens in grade and building levels as well as the instructional environment. Additionally, teachers can utilize preventative approaches like Positive Behavior Support System to promote and maximize prosocial behavior of students.
References
Knoff, H.M. (2012). Implementing Project ACHIEVE at the School and District Levels: Positive Behavioral Support System (PBSS) Implementation Fact Sheet. Retrieved September 9, 2017, from http://projectachieve.info/assets/files/pdfs/PBSS%20Proj%20ACH%20School%20Implemt%20Fact%20Sheet%20412.pdf
Marzano, R.J., Marzano, J.S. & Pickering, D.J. (2003, September). Classroom Management That Works. Retrieved September 22, 2017, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/103027/chapters/The-Critical-Role-of-Classroom-Management.aspx
O’Brennan, L.M., Bradshaw, C.P. & Furlong, M.J. (2014, June 1). Influence of Classroom and School Climate on Teacher Perceptions of Student Problem Behavior. School Mental Health, 6(2), 125-136.