Inner Discipline and Behaviour Modification

By Kaur, Daya
 All teachers have classroom management problems. Therefore, one must deal

effectively with misbehaviour if to accomplish the required instructional goals. How a

teacher deals with misbehaviour depends on the teacher’s own ideology and the approach

they choose to endorse. As such, this paper will examine the principles of two current

approaches to classroom management and some illustrative models.

Effective classroom management requires facilitators to understand various

misbehaviours, their sources and the motivations of the students. Therefore, this paper will

address how to deal with misbehaviour. It will examine such issues as ways to start the year

off right, the establishment of rules, the effective monitoring of a classroom, and the

appropriate use of punishment. Management is often difficult in the classroom, which is a

dynamic system of hundreds of interactions that must be monitored. Based on which the

teacher chooses and decides his/her course of action.

The core of effective management is the teacher’s ability to provide a positive social

and physical environment, conducive to holistic learning for the students. Although, it is not

the sole component, another important aspect of classroom management is discipline. It

persistently appears as the major concern of not only teachers, but administrators, parents,

and students. However, discipline should not be viewed as being primarily concerned with

punishment. It is important for facilitators to remember that punishment is about

consequences. Whereas discipline is about self-reflection, self-control and reformation. The

comparison of the two theorists will help teachers understand the difference between

discipline and punishment. It is to encourage thinking about the best way to manage
classrooms. The emphasis has been on creating and applying rules to control students’

behaviour. The newer focus, however, is more on students’ needs for nurturing relationships

and opportunities for self-regulation (Kennedy, Long, Kristine, Cox, Tang, & Thompson,

2001). The newer trend places more emphasis on guiding students to become more proficient

at self-discipline and less dependent on external control.

Inner discipline refers to a concept involving the ability to control oneself. Students

can show maturity and understanding irrespective of age. This maturity is a result of how the

teacher treats the students. Developing inner discipline can take a longer route in correcting

student misbehaviour as students are required to get involved in the problem-solving process.

There is a shared responsibility between the teacher and the students. Inner discipline

believes that a sense of ownership is lasting that immediate rewards or punishments. A

simple way for teachers to initiate this is by co-creating classroom agreements along with

consequences. This pre-decided decorum, gives students a sense of ownership which leads to

them understanding responsibility for their actions.

There are different types of teachers. Coloroso recognises three types of teachers

namely, "brick-wall," "jellyfish," and "backbone." Brickwall Teachers are strict and

demanding of students to follow without seeking an explanation. There is no exception for a

Brickwall Teacher. They are discipline focussed. Jellyfish Teachers are not clear with

instructions and often change the mechanics of the learning process. They lack consistency.

New teachers, in their aim to support students may have a tendency to become Jellyfish

teachers without realising it. The Backbone Teacher gives strong support but never at the

forefront of learning. The teacher works a s a guide and facilitator instead of the
 Behaviour modification is an intervention programme used to eliminate or reduce

unacceptable behaviour in people. It focuses on changing specific behaviours with little

consideration of a person's thoughts or feelings. For behaviour modification to be effective,

the consequences of the concerning behaviour must be known and thoroughly clear. This then

leads to modification in the targeted behaviour. With behaviour modification, certain

variables can be controlled and manipulated through reinforcers and punishments to bring

change in the behaviour. The goal is to eradicate or reduce unacceptable behaviour. This is

clearly seen in classrooms where students are given a star for every time they display the

desired behaviour and a mark or a cross for every time they display undesired behaviour. This

is called Tokenism. An immediate benefit of behaviour modification is the shift away from

merely punishing unwanted behaviour to also rewarding good behaviour. Teachers need to

understand that positive reinforcements are also an example of this. Just because a teacher

does not punish misbehaviour but rewards good behaviour, it is still tokenism.

Comparison between the two.

The key features of studying human behaviour are explicitly adaptationist, in that it supposes

that the psychological mechanisms underlying human behaviour are adaptations (Fraser,

2015). While some children crave attention and are reinforced by it, others do not. The key to

using reinforcement effectively is in knowing students and using what they naturally like to

do to strengthen and shape the positive behaviours anyone would like to see.

Developing Inner Discipline takes time and commitment. Any teacher who employs it,

believes in the potential of children. On the other hand, behaviour modification defines what
needs to be performed and is frequently as per the viewpoint of the teacher. The child is

employed as a component to a coherent community designed by the teacher. The voice of the

teacher is prominent in this type of environment. The Inner Discipline model allows the

children to practice their minds and think like adults as they navigate solutions towards

real-life issues. In this model the teacher enables the students to work with him/her, develop

and design the environment with him/her. In behaviour modification, anyone who does not

align can be punished until they show alignment or learn to look like they are aligned. This is

the reason there were songs like ‘Another brick in the wall’ that became so popular. It makes

students feel like objects or cogs in a wheel. But without a voice, mind or sense. Students

respond well, when they are treated with respect any individual deserves and not as a little

playthings that always need to be told what to do.

Kohn, A. (2006). Unconditional parenting: Moving from rewards and punishments to love

and reason.

Simon & Schuster. Operant conditioning and the experimental analysis of behavior. (n.d.).

The Psychology of B. F. Skinner, 73-100. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452229409.n5

Jones, F. (n.d.). Chapter 18- Discipline management. In Positive Classroom Discipline.

http://www.fredjones.com/discipline-18-1

Marshall, M. (2020, August 26). How to discipline without stress, punishment, or rewards.

ThoughtCo. Retrieved on April 16, 2021, from

https://www.thoughtco.com/discipline-without-stress-punishment-or-rewards-3110686
Mather, N., & Goldstein, S. (n.d.). Behavior modification in the classroom. LD online.

http://www.ldonline.org/article/6030

Notes from Haim Ginott's books. (n.d.). EQI.org. https://eqi.org/ginott.htm

Curwin, R., Mendler, A., & Mendler, B. (2018, April). Chapter 1: Core beliefs and principles.

In Discipline with Dignity: How to build responsibility, relationships, and respect in your

Classroom (4th ed.).

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/118018/chapters/Core-Beliefs-and-Principles.aspx