Discipline

I think this topic is very interesting. I like the idea that we think about the concept of discipline. First I thought that the discipline is something that all the people have and usually it is defined as good or bad discipline. When I was thinking in the concept I believed my point of view could be different that the one that gives all the responsability of the discipline in the classroom in the teacher. At first I thought in the concept of discipline as follows: a person is in control of their behaviour and shouldn’t be conferred to the teacher as something that he/she has to impose and therefore someone obey some rules.

While I was in the process of writing this post I investigated some definitions. RAE has 5 definitions of discipline but I will share only two: “Doctrine, education of a person, especially moral ” and “Action and effect of disciplining ”. After reading this two definitions I think most of the people when they hear the word discipline they visualize something like the last concept but my point of view was centered in the first one. At this point I will like to add that I will change the first concept. For me, it would be more like “education of a person in regard of his own behaviour”. So I think that the teacher should’t exercises discipline, instead the student should develop his/her own discipline and apply it to the place he/she is. But, I think is not as easy as I thought at the beginning because as humans we are constantly being shaped by all we get in touch with like our family, teachers, friends, mass media, books, music, etc. So we need to consider that the behaviour of one person is a result of a variety of elements. Of course I think a teacher can have some effect but I think the influence that one can have is bigger when the learners are young. As they grow I think the influence can’t be so directly.

In regard of some experiences that I have testified the teachers conduct in the same way. One time when I was in secondary school a teacher was explaining something, then he stop and said: “Armando, stop talking”. Armando responded: “ I was just saying to Carlos if he could lend me a pen”. Then the teachers didn’t responded correctly and started an argue with Armando. Unfortunately most of the teachers take part in the “melodrama” like Dr. Fred Jones’s explain: “it takes two fools to make a conversation out of it”.

I think what Dr. Fred Jones explain in his “Tools for Teaching” are very useful to manage delicate conditions in the class and avoid to complicate even more a given situation or like Dr. Fred Jones’s explain if you participate in the dialogue with the student is like “throwing gasoline on a fire”. So I think that dealing with indiscipline from students requires the teacher to be as calm as possible and have a reflective reaction to the conduct of the students. If the teacher doesn’t lose control the student couldn’t get what he/she wants.

Also, I think that the discipline in the classroom should be more flexible. Learners need to feel confortable in expressing his/her ideas, questions, concerns, creativity, etc. in a relaxed enviroment. This is the difficult part to create an appropriate learning enviroment.

Finally, I think there is a lot I need to learn about the topic and I hope with experience things will get more clear.