Gfroerer Kelly - Positive discipline tools for teachers: effective classroom management for social, emotional, and academic success

A s a teacher and Positive Discipline Trainer, I have worked in a variety of difficult school settings. Teaching has been the most emotionally challenging and exhausting yet inspiring and rewarding experience of my life. I honor teachers for the heart and soul they put into their work. For me, it wasnt until I adopted Positive Discipline that I felt I became the educator Id envisioned when I set out on this career path more than twenty years ago.

Adopting Positive Discipline did not come easily at first. I had to forget everything I had learned about education and rethink the role of the teacher as an encouragement facilitator. It was both scary and liberating. I no longer felt I had to be the behavioral motivator, using cheerleading, prize boxes, rewards, or competition to motivate students. With Positive Discipline tools, I no longer assumed the role of judge and jury, punishing students for bad behavior. I finally understood what democracy looked like in a classroom and turned the control over to students, who found the solutions to problems themselves once I allowed them to learn from their own mistakes.

Initially, I too wondered how my students motivation to develop academically and grow socially could be improved by holding daily class meetings. Soon I discovered how taking time for class meetings positively affected my students and classroom community. Taking time to teach social skill activities, noticing the way I spoke to students, making wiser curriculum choices, and taking time to connect with my students all had an impact. After my first training, when I dared question whether Positive Discipline could actually work, Jody McVittie, M.D., a Positive Discipline Lead Trainer, replied with a confident smile: Get curious and have faith in the process. So I did.

I didnt realize how much my efforts had paid off until Dr. Jane Nelsen came to visit my classroom several months later and declared, This is what Positive Discipline looks like in a classroom. She said she heard my first-grade students using I messages and problem-solving language. They were intrinsically motivated to use the Wheel of Choice () to solve problems. She noticed how my students were emotionally articulate and capable of self-regulating. The cool-off spot was being used regularly and my students were initiating problem-solving. I was able to identify my own feelings about student behavior better as I used the steps from the Mistaken Goal Chart, and I found new ways of offering encouragement.

I am very grateful that over the years I have witnessed so many daily examples of Positive Discipline successes. It is an honor to share in this foreword my most heartbreaking and inspiring success story about Positive Discipline.