Two discipline models compare and contrast

Classroom management requires discipline, various discipline models have different

characteristics. This article is based on the analysis of two methods about teacher
control:

Low-Teacher Control/The Guiding Method, which was introduced by Alfie Kohn in

her article Discipline is the problem- Not the solution and High-Teacher Control/The
Intervening Model which was explained by Marvin Marshall with How to discipline
without stress, punishment, or rewards.

The guiding method supports Low-Teacher Control with inspiring students’

ownership to achieve the aim of students’ self-control. The guiding method provides
some key points which the teachers should consider:

-Teacher should pay more attention to the reasonableness of the discipline when
students don’t want to or can’t follow. There is a recognized discipline in Mandarin
teaching “Speaking Only Chinese in class.” For the students who had learnt some
Chinese, it can help to create students a language environment and it’s also good for
students to practice more. But for absolute beginners and basic-level students, it’s
hard for them to follow. In this case, an appropriate adjustment is needed rather than
blaming the students not to speak Chinese.

- Teacher should find a way to get students back to the class when they’re off task or
overcome disciplines, but one should avoid any blaming or threatening for students.
In a class, the instruction of mere theory always makes students be distracted and
neglect disciplines. As a teacher, the effective way of attracting students is to make
the theory more practical rather than shouting students’ name out or using any
punishments when they disrupt the class. Role-play could be an aid. Just like in my
son’s science class, for making students keep sitting and entirely understood how the
vascular system worked, his teacher arranged students to play different roles as
organs, the student who played as the role of “blood” went through different “organs”
with absorbing nutrients and eliminating waste. In his class, knowledge was transited
by playing a game, the classroom would be a bit noisy, but we can’t deny that it is an
effective and positive classroom with special disciplines.

In Alfie Kohn’s theory, some advice, teachers can choose to use them or not, it’s
according to the actual situation.

-Alfie Kohn’s guiding theory doesn’t advocate a reward-based classroom, she thinks
that it will lead the students to do something only for being given an incentive. But
some teaching practices demonstrate that a reasonable reward system can be an aid
for creating a positive classroom with discipline.
-Alfie Kohn doesn’t think it’s a good idea to set one child as an example to
manipulate the behavior of everyone else in class. (Kohn,1995) But in a big group like
the class in China which has 40 to 60 students in each group, to set one or more
examples play important roles for a disciplined classroom.

Compare with Alfie Kohn’s guiding theory of Low-Teacher control, which

emphasizes student’ role in maintaining discipline, the Intervening Model which was
introduced by Marvin Marshall and implies high-Teacher Control, it has brought to
the fore the teacher’s intervening. Marvin Marshall emphasizes teacher’s intervening
doesn’t mean greater authority, on the contrary, he blamed some punitive measures
like detention due to being ineffective.

He thought that “punishment is that the more you use it to control your students'
behaviors, the less real influence you have over them. This is because coercion breeds
resentment. In addition, if students behave because they are forced to behave, the
teacher has not really succeeded. Students should behave because they want to—not
because they have to in order to avoid punishment.” (Marshall, 2019)

Marvin Marshall stressed the importance of teacher in the process of making the
student understand the discipline. In his opinion, great teachers ought to share ideas
with their students, and let the students know what they want them to do; great
teachers should improve their own skills and inspire students to WANT to behave
responsibly and WANT to put effort into their learning; “Great teachers have an open
mindset, they REFLECT so that if a lesson needs improvement they look to
themselves to change BEFORE they expect their students to change.” (Marshall,2019)

Although I think Marshall’s theory overemphasized the importance of internal

factors---teacher’s role and seems to overlook the external factors as reward, stress, as
far as my teaching experience, I still prefer to use his high-Teacher control in my
teaching and discipline philosophy.

I have encountered such a situation in my class, students breaking the rules, not due to
their reasons but mine. I still remember there were 8 students in my class, two of them
showed their abilities in language learning, but the other two students not, since
Mandarin was their first foreign language. The remaining 4 students represented the
average level of the class. Whenever I arranged them with some classroom exercises,
they started to talk with each other or did something no related to the class. Before I
got to be infuriated, I found that the problem was not the students themselves but the
exercises I gave them. It was too easy for the students who leant very fast but too
difficult for the students who first learnt a new foreign language. They started to talk
because some of them already finished, and some of them had even no clue about the
exercises. This case makes me realize that a rational lesson plan plays a crucial role in
shaping a positive classroom. To create a teacher-led democratic community is
essential for both teacher and student, thus a positive classroom with discipline will
become a reality.

References:

Kohn,A. (1995). Discipline is the problem — not the solution. Learning magazine.
https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/discipline-problem-solution/

Marshall, M. (2019). How to Discipline Without Stress, Punishment, or Rewards.

ThoughtCo.
https://www.thoughtco.com/discipline-without-stress-punishment-or-rewards-
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