Discipline Methods for Elementary School Students

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Ms. Davis had just finished setting up her classroom for the new school year. This would be her second year teaching at Southern Maryland Elementary School. Last year she had problems getting the children to listen to her and cooperate. The current school disciplinary method was different in each classroom. After a teacher felt that he or she could not handle a student anymore, they would be sent to the principal's office. For serious offenses, the student would be suspended or even expelled. She did not want the same thing to happen this year because she felt that it wasn't helpful. She decided to research different disciplinary methods so she could decide which one would work best for her. Many elementary teachers have the same problem as Ms. Davis. What are the options for teachers who want a successful discipline method in their classroom?

The most common disciplinary method is suspension and expulsion. This is when a child is sent home from school for a set period of time. This is only used for serious offenses or repeat offenders. Parents and researchers feel that this method doesn't help the student. Philip J. Leaf is the "director of the Center for Prevention of Youth Violence at John Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health" (White, 1.B). Leaf agrees that safety is important in schools, but "it also is important to provide youth in trouble with the types of support that will help them stay in school and graduate to success" (White, 1.B). White states that suspensions are not something that the school wants to do because it removes the child from a learning environment and it doesn't focus on or help the actual problem that the child may be having. "And students who are suspended multiple times often lose...

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Tidwell, Amy, K Brigid Flannery, and Teri Lewis Palmer. "A Description of Elementary Classroom Discipline Referral Patterns." Preventing School Failure 48.1 (Fall 2003): 18. ProQuest Education Journals. ProQuest Information and Learning. Coll of Southern Maryland Lib., La Plata, MD. 3 Dec. 2004 http://proquest.umi.com/login.

White, Tanika. "Student Conduct Policy Studied; City Schools to Review Discipline Code, List of Possible Punishments; Use of suspensions criticized; Some Say Removing Child from Class Fails to Address Problem, May Be Harmful." Sun [Baltimore, MD.] 18 Aug. 2003, final ed., sec. local: 1.B. ProQuest Education Journals. ProQuest Information and Learning. Coll. of Southern Maryland Lib., La Plata, MD. 3 Dec. 2004 http://proquest.umi.com/login.

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