PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY

UNIT 2

EDUC 5240

UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE

In my ideal classroom the students will feel safe, comfortable, curious, and ready to share

their challenges and ideas. For that reason, the optimum degree of discipline that I would

choose is the medium/interacting level of discipline. As the medium control methods are

focusing on the idea of growth as a combination of external and inherent factors where both

the instructor and the learners share responsibilities for regulating the conduct of the

student. Alfie Kohn (1993) states, “Children learn to make good choices by having the

chance to choose, not by following directions.” I believe that students and teacher should

share the responsibility for the conduct of the student where discipline is the avenue for

self-improvement. The instructors who follow this approach should always use counselling

in order to have control on the buffer zone amongst the teacher and the pupils. I prefer

using cooperative and win-win discipline approaches in my classroom. 

My Experiences and Model I Choose

Linda Albert (1990) asserts that teachers need to meet the needs of the students so that they

can choose to cooperate with the teacher and with each other. The five steps Linda uses are

very effective. In an instance I remember where the student was continuously being

disruptive during the class trying to gain attention of the whole class. I used these five steps

to cater to the need of the student and make him cooperative towards teacher and his fellow

mates. I pinpointed and described the student’s behavior, identified the goal of the

misbehavior by knowing the student more closely, chose interventions techniques such as

focus on the student all the times, listening him and making sure he is being paid attention
to. I then, chose the encouragement techniques such as making him responsible for class

discipline to make sure he is well attended to and builds self-esteem and in the end talked to

the parents so that they can also work on him and his behavior at home. This allowed me to

build self-esteem via encouragement and promoted a supportive classroom control through

appropriate interventions. I was able to get to the core of the problem easily via this

approach with everything going smooth and disciplined in the class. 

This kind of approach that has medium level model of discipline is a very good fit for the

instructors who are continuously focusing on problem solving skills of the students. The

instructor in this approach supports student-centered psychology represented in a low

control philosophy together with acknowledging that in a group setting learning can be

effective. Consequently, the teachers enhance the students` control over their conduct

where the child`s thoughts, emotions, ideas, thinking, and preferences are given priority

while planning teaching, management, and discipline of the classroom. 

Moreover, I always value the students expressive nature as I believe that at medium

engaging level the learners are able to express themselves and interact with each other

(Wright, 2011). The instructors help the students to resolve their questions by interacting

with the class members making the session interactive where the students are given chance

to regulate their conduct to develop the ability to make proper choices even when they are

initially not aware of their impeding behavior towards growth. I promote this type of

approach in my class for example, I recall one of my students who always took
manipulatives and stroke other friends with him. I discussed with the student and asked him

to reflect on his actions and developed a disciplinary measure to manage his behavior. I

then asked him to take one of the disciplinary measures of his own choice. The student was

not aware here that he was a part of decision-making process however this approach really

helped me to remove the disruptive behavior in the class. Furthermore, I like this model

because it allows me to collaborate with my students in the rules and procedures making

process. I do this in the start of every academic year where I sit with the students ask them

to come up with the rules and procedures and with thorough discussions, we come up with

rules that they make and then follow throughout the whole year. I then only reinforce the

rules and help the learners to recognize the importance of implication of the behaviors and

choices. I use cooperative discipline, noncoercive methods, logical consequences as these

methods align with interaction method of discipline.

The Challenges I Face

While using the medium/interactive approach I find few challenges every time I try to

implement these methods. Following is the summary of the hurdles I face. 

1. The approach of school coinciding with mine. It is very difficult for me to

implement these approaches if the school`s approach is not aligned with mine. 

2. Some of the students are not always ready open themselves up and take time to

adjust to the approach and sometimes also do not adapt at all allowing me to change

my method to somehow either low or high level of disciplinary methods. 

example, some students have the habit of talking all the time disrupting the

classroom decorum. 

4. This model requires a lot of patience and commitment. I may find it difficult to

apply the techniques as I always am short of time when I am applying these

methods. 

5. Some of the students always require encouraging words for them to be motivated

towards behaving well. The habit of seeking praise may result in losing self-worth

of the student which is challenging for the teacher as self-worth is important for the

students to carry their life and tackle issues later in their lives. 

Conclusion

Conclusively, I believe that students are human beings, and they are allowed to make

mistakes. I always choose methods in which students learn from their mistakes and are self-

reflective of their actions. As represented in Aha!Pocess (2012) I always talk through the

problem and use the win-win discipline to attain the required behavior of the student

allowing them to reflect on their wrong doings and work towards behaving well and

positively in the class.  Creating positive relationship with the students is what I aim for in

every of my class which is why I select the medium/interacting approach in order for my

learners to make sound judgement and learn the lifelong skills. As said by Charles (2007)

that three C`s of cooperative discipline are capability, connectivity, and contribution, I also

develop and apply methods that have democratic approach where students feel that they are

heard so that they can pursue their dreams and be encouraged to be their true selves. 
 

References: 

Albert, L. (1990). Cooperative Discipline: Classroom Management that Promotes Self-

Esteem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwSZ3XYUZME&t=1s&ab_channel=aha%21Process

Charles, C.M. (2007). Chapter 12: Linda Albert’s cooperative discipline. In Building

Classroom Management, 9th ed. (chapter 12). Retrieved from

http://faculty.washington.edu/cadavis1/503%20Readings/AlbertChapter.pdf

Kohn, A. (1993). Choices for children. Phi Delta Kappan.

Wright, G. B. (2011). Student-centered learning in higher education. International journal

of teaching and learning in higher education.

Aha!Process. (2012, April 08). Rita Pearson: Teaching Tips (Win-Win Conversations)

[Video]. YouTube.