TASK 4:The Canter Model of Discipline

PREPARED BY : NOR AINI BINTI NORDIN

KEY IDEAS
1. Teachers have basic educational rights in their classrooms including: - establish optimal learning environments. - request and expect appropriate behavior - receive help from administrators and parents when it is needed. 2. Students have basic rights in the classroom too, including: - The right to have teachers who help limit inappropriate, selfdestructive behavior - The right to choose how to behave, with a full understanding of the consequences that will follow automatically from their choices.

3. The use of assertive discipline is the keyword. The teacher communicates clearly his/her expectations to students and follows up with appropriate and consistent actions which do not violate the best interests of the students. 4. Assertive discipline involves the use of the following behaviours. Identify expectations clearly. Be persistent in stating expectations and feelings. Use a firm tone of voice and non-verbal gestures in support of verbal statements. Maintain eye contact. Use hints and questions rather than demands or requests for appropriate behavior. Follow-up with promises (reasonable consequences, previously established) rather than with threats.

To become more assertive when using discipline, teachers should do the following: Practice assertive response styles. Set clear limits and consequences. Use follow-up procedures that are consistent Make specific assertive discipline plans and rehearse them mentally. Write things down; do not trust to memory. Practice the 'broken record' technique when reinforcing expectations. Ask school principals and parents for support in your efforts to help students.

5 steps to Assertive Discipline

Recognizing and Removing Roadblocks to Assertive Discipline.
teachers expect students to behave badly. This pessimistic expectation must replace with more optimistic expectations. teachers must recognize the simple fact that they can influence the behavior of all students . helps remove the roadblocks associated with negative expectations.

Teachers are advised to focus on the following realities: Teachers have the right to ask for and receive help from principals, parents, and other school personnel. Different students respond differently within a given situation. They realize that sometimes their peers need special help and they are usually accepting and understanding

Practicing the use of assertive response styles.

1. The Non-assertive Response. They are passive. They either do not establish clear standards or else they fail to back up their standards with appropriate actions. They are not firm or insistent and they end up resignedly accepting whatever the students decide to do. 2. The Hostile Response.

Teachers use aversive techniques such as sarcasm and threats. They often shout and believe they must rule with an iron fist or else they will be overwhelmed with chaos. Hostile responses produce several bad side effects such as hurting students' feelings, provoke disrespect.
3. The Assertive Response. This protects the rights of both teacher and student. They reinforce their words with actions.

3. Learning to set limits.

Canter makes this point clearly: "Once teachers have identified the inappropriate behaviours they should then make them clear to the students. Once inappropriate behaviour has been made explicit, the next step in setting limits is to decide consequences for both compliance and noncompliance.
Canter details several methods for setting verbal limits : 1. Requesting appropriate behavior, which is accomplished using: Hints - statements made from time to time reminding students of the teacher's expectations I-messages - telling students how behavior is affecting the teacher Questions- hints or commands put in the interrogative form

2. Delivering the verbal limit using tone of voice, eye contact, gestures, and so forth:
Tone of voice - It should not be harsh, abusive sarcastic, or intimidating. Eye contact - for a message to have its greatest impact, teachers should look students straight in the eye. Gestures - Facial expressions together with arm and hand movements accentuate messages. Physical touch - A hand lightly placed on a shoulder communicates forcefulness combined with sincerity.

Learning to follow through on limits. By "limits" Canter means the positive demands you make of students. By "following through" he means the appropriate actions you take, either when students comply or when they fail to comply.

Implementing a system of positive or favourable consequences.

Here are some positive consequences suggested by Canter:

1. Personal attention from the teacher. Most students respond enthusiastically to such attention. 2. Positive notes to parents. A brief note or phone allows parents are more likely to support teachers when they receive such approving messages. 3. Set up a system of consequences that you can easily enforce. A system which suits their personality which they feel comfortable. 4. Material rewards. Many tangible objects can be effective rewards. 5. Home rewards. In collaboration with parents. 6. Group rewards. Rewarding the entire group/class for good behavior.

APPLICATION
Situation : Kris is in Ms. Jake's class and is quite docile. She never disrupts the class and does little socializing with other students. She is physically present but makes little effort or contribution to the life of the class Canter would advise Mr. Jake to do the following:

Communicate the class expectations clearly to Kris. Be assertive and check that Kris has received your message. Use a firm tone of voice and maintain eye contact when reminding Kris of the expectations. Make the negative consequences more severe and the positive consequences more attractive. Let Kris's parents know how her behaviour concerns you.

Comments on Canter's Model

Canter's model of assertive discipline integrates ideas and techniques from several other models. These ideas and techniques include such items as 'behavior as choice', 'logical consequences' rather than the use of threats or punishments, 'positive reinforcement' for desired behavior, 'addressing the situation rather than the student's character', etc. However Canter's model has several unique features- its overall ease of implementation, its insistence on meeting teachers' and students' rights in the classroom, its emphasis on caring sufficiently about students to limit their self-defeating behavior and its insistance on gaining support from administrators and parents. And what of the model's shortcomings? Many teachers find fault with it. Many teachers complain , for instance, that it is too harsh, too aggressive, overpowering for younger children, demeaning to older students, so focused on suppressing bad behavior that it excludes emphasis on the building of values for good, responsible behavior. As with all other aspects of human interaction, different people have different opinions; no one approach will please everyone at the same time and in the same situation.