Nabbing the Ringleader - Discipline Technique For First Time Teachers
Have you ever been on an expressway, peacefully minding the speed limit, when another car passes you easily going 20 miles per hour over the speed limit? And after watching this happen, did you feel a little braver and up your speed? Maybe five miles over the speed limit? Maybe 10? Your rationale is that if a police officer does come along, they'll go after the guy that's doing 20 over just ahead of you.
They wouldn't pull you over when there's a bigger fish to fry, goes the reasoning.
The same phenomenon exists in the classroom with The Ringleader.
Students have this same mentality when they're in the classroom.
If there is one troublemaker that really gives you a hard time, blatantly misbehaving and sending you to the point of no return, then the other students feel they can safely fly under your radar by being bad, just not as bad as that one kid.
In their world, as long as someone in the class is acting worse than they are then they've got a sort of behavioural sanctuary.
For all intents and purposes, they're right.
Imagine trying to discipline someone for a small infraction, when major infractions are taking place at the same time.
Imagine sending a student to the principal because they are always late to class.
That student might decide to confide in the principal and state that your classroom is too dangerous and they show up late as a safety precaution.
Using the speeders example, you have to be the cop that goes after the fastest speeder and gives them the ticket.
Here's why: In that same scenario imagine if you were going 10 miles over the speed limit, feeling pretty good about your newfound bravery.
All of a sudden you see the flashing lights in your rearview mirror and you hear the sirens behind you.
Oh no! You're getting a speeding ticket.
You start to rack your brain for a reason to give the officer as to why you were speeding and you start to think of any other driving mistakes you've made in the last 5 minutes.
Did you use your signal? Are all your taillights working? Then all of a sudden the police cruiser passes you by.
They weren't trying to pull you over at all.
They are after that guy that was really really speeding.
You sigh with relief and you celebrate for a moment.
After that you watch the speed limit pretty closely and you make sure you obey all the traffic rules.
That was too close for comfort and you don't want that feeling again any time soon.
It only lasts for a few days and then you're back to your normal behavior.
It's worse for the guy that actually got the speeding ticket.
Depending on how many tickets he's gotten he'll be checking himself for weeks or months to come.
So be sure to nab the ringleader first and you'll find that the rest of the class will see the example that you've set and will know what kind of punishment awaits if they choose to act in the same manner.
They wouldn't pull you over when there's a bigger fish to fry, goes the reasoning.
The same phenomenon exists in the classroom with The Ringleader.
Students have this same mentality when they're in the classroom.
If there is one troublemaker that really gives you a hard time, blatantly misbehaving and sending you to the point of no return, then the other students feel they can safely fly under your radar by being bad, just not as bad as that one kid.
In their world, as long as someone in the class is acting worse than they are then they've got a sort of behavioural sanctuary.
For all intents and purposes, they're right.
Imagine trying to discipline someone for a small infraction, when major infractions are taking place at the same time.
Imagine sending a student to the principal because they are always late to class.
That student might decide to confide in the principal and state that your classroom is too dangerous and they show up late as a safety precaution.
Using the speeders example, you have to be the cop that goes after the fastest speeder and gives them the ticket.
Here's why: In that same scenario imagine if you were going 10 miles over the speed limit, feeling pretty good about your newfound bravery.
All of a sudden you see the flashing lights in your rearview mirror and you hear the sirens behind you.
Oh no! You're getting a speeding ticket.
You start to rack your brain for a reason to give the officer as to why you were speeding and you start to think of any other driving mistakes you've made in the last 5 minutes.
Did you use your signal? Are all your taillights working? Then all of a sudden the police cruiser passes you by.
They weren't trying to pull you over at all.
They are after that guy that was really really speeding.
You sigh with relief and you celebrate for a moment.
After that you watch the speed limit pretty closely and you make sure you obey all the traffic rules.
That was too close for comfort and you don't want that feeling again any time soon.
It only lasts for a few days and then you're back to your normal behavior.
It's worse for the guy that actually got the speeding ticket.
Depending on how many tickets he's gotten he'll be checking himself for weeks or months to come.
So be sure to nab the ringleader first and you'll find that the rest of the class will see the example that you've set and will know what kind of punishment awaits if they choose to act in the same manner.
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